Live Out Loud
by DrunkOnJerichohol
Summary: The varied layers of Stephanie aren't easy to uncover, but when her partying ways take a turn for the hazardous, those closest to her are forced to intervene and form the support system she needs before time runs out.
1. Chased by Demons

**Disclaimer**: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. Any and all original characters and plot are the property of the author of this story. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any previously copyrighted material. No copyright infringement is intended.

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"You're completely out of hand, Stephanie!" Vince slammed his palm against the tabletop in his hotel suite as a means of getting his point across, evoking an involuntary jump out of both Shane and Stephanie. Of all characteristics used to label Vince, timid would never be one of them. His blazing temperament was a quality that had unquestionably been passed down to Stephanie long before she made her grand entrance into the world, but she was reigning her umbrage in for the evening because, for once, she wasn't in the mood to lock horns.

"Oh my gosh, it was a _joke_," she rolled her eyes and descended further into the couch cushions while Vince's eyes burned a hole through her.

Absent were the days when she was the apple of her daddy's eye, and Stephanie missed that aspect of their relationship more than she let on. It was her natural instinct to thirst for love, support, and acceptance from her parents, and while she knew they held her dear, it didn't ache any less to recognize she wasn't making them proud. Vince wouldn't have come down on her like a hammer on a nail if he didn't care which direction her life forked out in but, by that same token, he didn't register that his participation in an objective chat with Stephanie would have been abundantly more effective than raising his voice. As soon as the tiniest bit of discord invaded his otherwise relaxed timbre, she wanted nothing more than to tune him out, because she didn't want or need a lecture.

All Stephanie craved was encouragement.

"How dare you make light of this!" he hissed.

"Dad!" she screeched, as Shane winced and rubbed his now-damaged ear from his spot beside her on the couch. "It was freakin' Mardi Gras, okay? Yes, I flashed some people and got some beads - - big whoop! Why can't you just get over it?"

"I want you out of my sight right now," Vince barked. "Go take a walk, go down to the hotel caf_é, _do anything as long as it's away from me for at least the next hour."

"Dad..." Shane interjected in a warning tone.

He was often privy to disagreements between his father and sister, and this occasion proved to not be any exception. No matter how many arguments he survived, it never grew any easier to watch two people he loved butting heads, and Linda apparently shared the same sentiments, as she had retreated to the bedroom the second they arrived at the hotel room. The general consensus among the family was that Linda underestimated the commandeering power of her voice, if only she would allow it be heard, but she appeared more content to place all responsibility of serious discussions solely into Vince's hands. The main issue that formed from that was Stephanie was an explosive firecracker of a young woman, and Vince was past the point of being fed up with her.

She was a free spirit and had embodied that description her entire life, but Stephanie was growing older and after reaching her early 20's, Vince was looking to put more responsibilities into her capable hands, in terms of the family business. He wouldn't be willing to take that extra step if he couldn't trust her judgment, and that was the way in which everything seemed to be shaping up. Stephanie was unpredictable at best, reckless at worst, and Vince searched for even the slightest shred of accountability in her, but it wasn't readily on display. The ideals that were typical of being young and immature remained a part of Stephanie's daily displays, but with each year that passed, that type of behavior from her grew less acceptable and more damaging.

Ever since they were children, she and Shane fantasized about what life would be like once they took control of the company as a dynamic sibling duo. While they had their spats in their younger days, they had grown to be incredibly close friends, and the truth was that Shane wanted to see his sister do well. He wanted Stephanie to live up to the extensive potential he knew resided within her, but some sort of emotional blockage wouldn't allow her to move past her teenage glory days of partying and skirting around all obligations. Stephanie's actions ran deeper than they appeared to at face value, and if anybody could dig in and suction the truth out, it would be Shane.

"Out, Stephanie!" Vince bellowed as he pointed his index finger towards the door.

"Fine," she shrugged while simultaneously rising from the couch.

"Dad, come on, let's just talk to her. She doesn't need to be kicked out of the room just because of what she did," Shane intervened, always wanting to play the part of peacemaker, though it rarely worked. Vince turned all attention of his blistering glare on Shane, his hands curled around the ends of the armrests as he squeezed with every bit of his might. His knuckles were turning white, and since he was only seconds from blowing his proverbial lid, Shane rethought his previous argument and decided it might be a reasonable suggestion for Stephanie to leave.

"I need my space from you so I don't say or do something I'll regret," Vince's words were spoken for Stephanie, although he voiced them while staring Shane down. If he so much as glanced in Stephanie's direction he would fly off the handle, so he was trying to protect both her and himself. "Go take a walk and come back later."

"I'll just spend the night in someone else's room," Stephanie shot back as she picked her bag up where she had left it near the door. In anticipation of Vince not being so lenient with her, she hadn't bothered unpacking and had left her belongings right beside the door for when the time came that he inevitably kicked her to the curb. The origin of that evening's animosity had formed after she carelessly let it slip at Raw earlier that night that she had earned Mardi Gras beads the week before while enjoying the festivities in New Orleans, and when Vince caught wind of it, he had seen red - - bright red - - _scarlet_.

"Whose room?" Vince grilled, and Shane was glad for his father's line of questioning, because he had been wondering the very same thing. Over the course of her first two years working for the WWF, Stephanie had made plenty of friends, and there was no doubt she would be able to call one of the guys or gals from work, who would be more than willing to let her crash in their dwelling.

"I don't know. I can go see Paul and Trish, Amy and Matt, or maybe I'll just go hang out with Chris. At least _he'd _be happy to see me," she tossed over her shoulder just as she reached the door and placed her hand on the cool knob.

"That's not such a bad idea," Vince responded, and when Stephanie turned back, she spied him leaning forward in his seat and returning her unwavering gaze. "You know something, I think you need him in your life. You're getting older, and a stable relationship with a grounded and responsible guy like Chris might be just the thing you need to pull yourself out of this childish rut."

"Well, yeah, but you mean someone _like_ Chris," Shane pointed out as his brow furrowed with worry. "She can't date a wrestler, right?"

"Of course not, no," Vince shook his head. "I meant someone like Chris."

There were few men who worked for Vince that he would have been elated to see his daughter involved with, but Chris was the exception to that general rule. Whether Stephanie noticed or not, there were occasions when he tried to prod her in that direction, even enacting subliminal messaging in his conversations with her as a tactic to make her see what was right in front of her. The irony of it all was that Vince had been the one to instate the rule that Stephanie wasn't to date any of the wrestlers, but he also hadn't anticipated coming across anyone he thought had the potential to be such a stable figure in his daughter's life. From the moment Chris had dropped in at Vince's home to sign his first WWF contract, the chairman saw something special in him.

There was a quiet confidence to Chris but, above that, he maintained a genuine compassion for people, which was challenging to find in recent times. It wasn't until Stephanie formed a friendship with Chris that Vince noticed a lull in her normally frenzied behavior whenever he was around, and if Chris became a mainstay in Stephanie's life, Vince could only imagine what an improvement he might see in her then. The idea to play matchmaker had occurred to him on more than one occasion, but he was trying to steer clear of that, so as not to be hypocritical about the fact that he'd been the one to tell Stephanie not to date any of the wrestlers to begin with. Yet, there was always room to deviate from the norm, and a situation that dire called for it.

"Yeah, just someone who has the same qualities," Shane echoed, and without another word, Stephanie slipped out the door.

It shut behind her with an echoing clink, and she released a breath she'd been unconsciously holding onto. Every time she took part in something her father felt devalued her in some way, he always went on about how she needed Chris, not realizing it was pure torture for him to push her towards someone he claimed was off-limits. Chris encompassed every aspect of her dream guy, but it had been instilled in Stephanie from a young age that she would be doing herself a disservice to become involved with any of her father's wrestlers. It was simply taboo and something she didn't want to prowl around in, although she went against her father's wishes in almost every other regard, so it would make perfect sense to wave off his warnings.

In fact, he most likely expected her to.

Chris had always been a good friend, from the very first day they met, and was everything Stephanie mused to have in a boyfriend someday, but it was a forbidden love. That wasn't to say she _loved _him yet but, with time, Stephanie hadn't a single doubt she could get there someday. She came to an abrupt stop in front of the room Paul and Trish were sharing with one another, having started dating the year before, and raised her hand to knock before deciding against it. There was only one person she was in the mood to pay a visit to and spend the night with, so she dashed down to the second to last door from the band of elevators and knocked.

The door opened a crack and an instantaneous grin spread on her face when she heard his voice, "Who is it?"

"It's me," she laughed.

"Me who?"

"Stephanie, you dork."

"I was gonna let you in, but you called me a name, so I don't want you here anymore. Bye-bye," the door creaked shut for a few seconds, and Stephanie brought her right hand to her mouth to stifle a snicker.

"Chris..." she sang, and a second later, the door was open and he was standing beside it, beaming at her. "Can I spend the night with you?"

"Ooh, so it's like _that_?" he raised his eyebrows and began shimmying towards her in a coyly carnal manner.

"Stop it, weirdo," Stephanie swatted at his arm and stepped around him to get into the room.

Her eyes flew straight to the bed, and she breathed a sigh of relief that he hadn't invited a ring rat up to the room with him. Chris was a handsome man, very sought after by the ladies, and a part of her dreaded when the time would arrive that he would be taken. Even if she couldn't be with him, Stephanie didn't have a strong enough heart to be able to see him with someone else and not be at least a smidgen hurt by it. She had laid claim on him while they weren't even dating, but then again, she had always been possessive in nature.

Chris closed the door behind her, and just as she was dropping her bag to the ground, he placed a delicate hand on the small of her back and led her to his couch. They took a seat next to one another and he studied her like a book, expecting an explanation as to why she was there. Then again, word of Stephanie's boob-flashing had made the rounds at work, and despite the fact that Chris always made it a point to stay out of the gossip, she was fairly certain he had heard about what she had done. With the formation of that thought, her hand unconsciously slid up her shirt, as she used her arm to shield her breasts, and Chris bit back a smirk.

"I wasn't looking," he claimed.

"At what?" Stephanie asked, still unaware of what she was doing. Chris tilted his head in the direction of her arm-covered chest and she turned soft pink, then crimson, as she lowered her arm and shifted away from him. Chris's hand came down on her wrist a second later, and she melted - - like butter in a scorching skillet - - under his skillful touch as he rubbed up and down her arm.

"I meant I wasn't looking at your breasts, but I heard the pervs at Mardi Gras got a full view."

"Oh, yeah..." Stephanie trailed off as she fiddled with her hands as a means of distraction. There wasn't anything all that engaging about staring at her fingers, but it prevented her from having to look Chris in the eye in light of the injustice she had done to herself. Nobody would ever respect Stephanie if she wasn't willing to respect herself, and Chris obviously felt the same way, as his next words proved.

"I'm not judging you, I'm really not, but why would you do something like that?" he asked. Stephanie shrugged her shoulders without looking up at him, and he dropped his hand from her arm. "You can talk to me about this stuff. I would never go behind your back and tell anyone what you've said to me in confidence."

"I know, but it's really hard to explain."

"Well just try."

"I wanted, like, I think I like it when people notice me, even if the reason they're noticing me isn't something good. I knew it was wrong to go around flashing people, plus, people have cameras and they could take my picture and plaster it everywhere. I don't know what I was thinking, but it felt good at the time. Guys were whistling at me, girls were envious of me, and it was nice to feel pretty."

"I can understand that, in a roundabout sort of way," Chris added as he sank down in his seat. "Life is different for women than it is for men, but I think anyone can relate to that feeling of wanting people to notice you. The part I can't wrap my mind around is why someone like you, as beautiful and articulate as you are, would think you have to lower yourself to that kind of thing just to get people to give you a second glance. If you put your focus into working hard at the shows and practicing your scenes before it's time to tape them for TV, everyone would be in awe of you."

"You don't understand though," she shook her head, still staring downward.

"Then make me understand."

Stephanie spied a room service menu across the way and grabbed the corner of it that was hanging off the table. She trailed her index finger around the edges while perusing her options under the dessert category, and upon discovering the choice of cheesecake, her eyes met Chris's with a wanting gleam. "Wanna share some cheesecake?"

"I'm not that hungry, but I'm sure I could get a small piece of cheesecake down. We'll order in a minute," he promised before grabbing the menu out of her hand and placing it back down on the table. "You know, Vince told me how you had to be carried home by your friends a few weeks back when you had too much to drink and also about last month when you went home with that guy you met at a club and didn't even know. He could have really hurt you if he'd been a bad guy, Stephanie. Why do you do this stuff?"

His eyes bore into hers like laser beams, and that was when she first became unsettled. Whenever Chris grew serious with her, behaving as if he possessed some sort of extended view straight into her soul, it became alarming for Stephanie. She trusted Chris, so that wasn't her point of distress, but some things were meant to be kept secret, and she couldn't do that when he was so persistent in analyzing her like she was a calculus book and he was a college student who had finals the next morning. Yet, that prompted the question as to why her inner feelings were so dissatisfying she felt the need to hide them from someone who had been her friend as long as Chris had.

Whenever someone presented her with a question she didn't readily have an appropriate answer to, Stephanie did other things to occupy herself. She didn't want to confront Chris's piercing stare or his hard-hitting questions, because it would force her to face demons she wasn't yet ready to overcome. So, through the power of a classic blend of denial and evasion, she began removing her shoes, working the knot out of the laces as slowly as she could without making her intentions too obvious, and kicked them off. Left in her socks, she rose from the couch and strutted away from Chris.

"Where are you going?"

"Bathroom," she answered without looking back. The door creaked when she pushed it open, and Stephanie felt along the tiled wall blindly for the light switch, turning it on and bathing the room in illumination. She stepped inside and was just about to shut the door when Chris's shoe slipped in the door frame and stopped her. "Chris?" she pulled back to find him leaning in the doorway with his arms crossed, though the expression on his face was one of great concern rather than ire.

"Your family and I worry a lot about you."

"You don't need to."

"You're one of the best friends I've got, so I do," he responded, leaning his head against the door frame. "I wish you would let me see all of you."

"You should have come to Mardi Gras and you would have," she chuckled humorlessly, which only earned a disapproving head-shaking from Chris.

"That's not funny, and you know it's not how I meant that."

"Sorry. I said it without thinking."

"I think you act a lot without thinking, and being spontaneous is cool and all, but it can also be dangerous," Chris pointed out before releasing a heaving breath and accepting that he probably wasn't going to get much out of her. "All right, I'll order the cheesecake while you use the bathroom, but I really hope you'll think about what I said. I'm always here if you need to talk, and I wish you would take me up on that offer. Tonight is a perfect opportunity for that."

"I will. I'll be right out," Stephanie said, at which he nodded his understanding and shuffled back towards the couch in his suite. After shutting the bathroom door and turning the lock, Stephanie pursed her lips and gazed into the mirror before realizing it forced her to see herself.

She averted her eyes.


	2. Leisurely Activities

Stephanie's first stop during the luminous weekday morning in Connecticut was a coffee shop only a few miles from her home. Amy, who was spending the weekend with her since Matt was off performing some sort of wild daredevil stunts with his brother Jeff, reached out to pat Stephanie's arm. "Thanks for having me this weekend. We're gonna have so much fun, and we _have_ to go out tonight, like, there's seriously no other option."

"We will. I know all the best places here, so it'll be cool. Let's go get our caffeine fix and then we'll head to the golf course," Stephanie's eyes blazed with an impish flair, which was basically a sure sign she was up to no good. Despite the wayward gleam in her eye, Amy assumed that, at the very least, their day would be even more convivial than she originally expected - - thanks to the spontaneity of Stephanie's general disposition - - so she followed her out of the car and into the lively coffee shop. Putting her multitasking skills to use, Amy kept the conversation going as she skimmed the menu board to find the drink that would fulfill her cravings.

"So, you're a good golfer, I guess?"

"No...why would I be?" Stephanie raised an eyebrow as her features set in a comical smirk.

Amy frowned her confusion, "I thought you said we're going to the golf course today."

"I did."

"You just want to practice hitting balls then?"

"No, I want to practice my ball-_grabbing_ skills," Stephanie replied as she ran a hand through her hanging tresses and her eyes ignited once again with the same unruly pizzazz they always held. Amy's eyes flitted downward as she mulled her words, still not fully grasping what Stephanie was trying to convey, so she clarified, "Sorry, that was a bad, perverted joke, but we're actually going there to get guys. Oops, I mean, not you, because you've already got Matt, but you can help me find a guy."

"Why there?"

"Because that's where the most desirable men in this entire town hang out, and I can find someone to, you know..."

"Hook up with?" Amy finished for her.

"Yeah," she replied before stepping up to the front of the line after the customer ahead of them was finished.

Stephanie ordered a mocha latte for herself and Amy settled on the same, being that she wasn't much of a coffee drinker and trusted Stephanie's judgment to guide her to the best option. After Stephanie, generous woman that she was, paid for both drinks, they took a seat near the window and people-watched while making idle chitchat. Upon her arrival to the company in 2000, Trish had drifted to Stephanie almost immediately and connected with her on a grand scale, and Matt expressed to them on more than one occasion that Amy wanted to partake in their group but didn't know how to infiltrate herself. It hadn't ever been intentional on the part of either woman to make Amy feel tossed away, so in a joined effort with Matt, Stephanie reached out to Amy and had started inviting her along outside of work to make her feel like part of the group, which she absolutely was.

Trish was someone it had been more seamless for Stephanie to click with, simply because they were alike in so many ways, but that didn't discount Amy's knack to always be good for a laugh and a great time. The truth was, Matt was off on an adventure with his brother, but he had made those plans come to fruition as a means of encouraging Amy to do something with Stephanie instead of remaining home alone in his absence. They attempted to wrangle Trish in for the festivities, but in a rare move, she turned it down to spend the weekend with Paul in Tampa. Stephanie couldn't necessarily blame her for that, because if she'd had a boyfriend, she would have spent the majority of her time with him too. She was reaching the age where relationships with the opposite sex were significantly more substantial than just hand-holding and kissing, and she wanted to find her prince - - possibly before the weekend was over.

"You hung out with Chris on Monday night?" Amy asked, just making conversation.

"Yeah, how did you know? Did Trish tell you?" Stephanie inquired as she raised her cup to take a sip of the frothing liquid, savoring the smooth coffee bean flavor as it slipped down her throat and heated her chilled body. Amy being in the know about her time spent with Chris was an interesting development and made Stephanie wonder if her father had been bragging to everyone about it or something. He was high on Chris and pushed them together every chance he got, so it would make sense if he was actually going so far as to tell people she had been hanging out with him.

"Nope, Chris told me backstage the other day. What's going on with you guys?"

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know, it just seems like something is there."

"Oh God, don't tell my dad that," Stephanie warned, albeit a playful admonishing. Amy's expression indicated she didn't understand what was meant by that, so she continued, "He's been trying to push Chris and I together forever. I think _he_ thinks he's being super creative about it, but I see right through it, and I know Chris does too. After he brought me back to the hotel suite my parents were staying in on Tuesday morning, my dad actually gave us a couple hundred dollar bills and told us to go have a nice breakfast somewhere."

"Really?" Amy covered her mouth to stifle a laugh, "So did you guys actually go?"

"We did, but what I didn't tell my dad was that it wasn't an extravagant place like he told us to go. We seriously went to Dunkin' Donuts and had some coffee and breakfast sandwiches. I was planning on eating there, but Chris took me to a park that we passed on the way from the hotel, and we sat on a bench and ate. He's so cute," she gushed as she thought back to the morning they had spent together.

"Aww, you like him."

"I'd be lying if I said I didn't see him in that light, but I'm not allowed to be with my dad's employees, so it couldn't ever happen. That goes for everyone across the board too, like, I can't even date the guys in corporate or my dad would have my head on a platter," she explained before falling back on the past subject, as it was much more pleasant to discuss. "Anyways, Chris and I got these croissant sandwiches for breakfast, and he was picking pieces of his bread and tossing it into the lake for the ducks. I barely even ate because I was watching him the whole time."

"He's such a sweetheart, isn't he?"

"He really is," Stephanie nodded. Amy tipped her head and sent her a look she couldn't decipher. "What?"

"You have a soft spot for him, don't you?"

"I do, but I think it's just that I love the fact that he cares about me. Chris watches out for me a lot, like how he sorta scolded me for flashing my boobs at Mardi Gras and getting drunk and stuff. Oh, that's the other thing I forgot to tell you!" her eyes lit up at the memory of something Chris had said. Amy leaned in, intrigued by the conversation. "My dad talks to Chris about the stuff I do when I'm home."

"You mean personal stuff?" Amy's eyes widened as she absently stirred her coffee with the skinny red straw provided to her.

"Nothing too intimate, but he told Chris about how I got drunk and had to be carried home, and he also told him I left the club with a guy I didn't know one time. The thing is, though, that guy was really sweet, and I could tell he was only looking to have a good time. If I had gotten some kind of weird vibe then I never would have left with him, but that's not how it happened."

"Come on, Stephanie. You know I love being your friend and think you're awesome, but you can't honestly expect me to believe you can tell whether or not a guy is good just by hanging out with them in a club for a while. All the best murderers in the world have been super charming, because that's pretty much how they suck in their prey," she pointed out. Amy was hesitant to give Stephanie advice, because they were still in the early stages of getting to know one another and she didn't want to make Stephanie dislike her before they had a real chance to get off the ground. There were occasions, however, where she simply couldn't keep her mouth shut, and this was one of them. Stephanie needed to hear when she was being irrational, and in that sense, Amy hoped to step up the same way Chris had and become a guiding figure in her life.

"I don't know," she scrunched her nose and shrugged, "he seemed nice enough, but I guess you're right. I think I'm just lonely because I don't have a man, but tell me your secrets. How did you snag a guy as sweet as Matt?"

"I didn't do it all alone, believe me," she laughed. "Jeff was actually the one who sort of pushed us together because he could see there were sparks between us. You can feel when you meet the person you're supposed to be with, and Matt and I had that from the get-go. If you ever get that feeling of emptiness when you're away from someone that can't be cured until the next time you see them, that's a sure sign you've found yourself a keeper."

"I've felt that way before," Stephanie responded.

"Oh yeah?"

"Definitely," she nodded, and it hadn't occurred to her until just then how true Amy's words rang.

There was a void in her heart every time she had to be away from Chris.

"Could I be any more of a third-wheel right now?" Chris covered his face with his hands and slid them down his cheeks comically slow while Paul and Trish broke their kiss and turned to him.

His idea of a spectacular day off would have been to travel to wherever Stephanie was. It would have been a double dose of satisfaction because, not only would he have been able to hang out with her, but it would have allowed him the chance to keep a strict eye on her and make sure she wasn't putting herself in danger. Every time she left the shows to return home, Chris felt a sense of dread because, with the way her behavior was shaping up, it would only be a matter of time before she would trust the wrong person and end up getting seriously hurt, if not worse. So Trish, who only lived a couple of blocks down from him in Tampa, had invited Paul to spend the weekend with her and saw it necessary to bring Chris along for the ride so he wouldn't have to remain home by himself all weekend.

While Chris could appreciate that Paul and Trish thought enough of him to have him along on the excursion, watching them be so lovey-dovey with one another was a major turnoff. They had gone out on Trish's speedboat, where Chris had been struggling to avert his eyes as they nuzzled noses and kissed every two seconds. If there had been another woman there to keep him company or at least make conversation he would have been fine, but watching another couple in love was not his idea of a grand time. The bashful, apologetic smiles they wore, however, were enough to make him regret his interjection.

"Sorry," he waved his words off, wishing he had a magic wand to make them disappear altogether. "It was nice of you guys to invite me in the first place, so don't mind me."

"No, we're sorry. We don't want to make you feel like you're just along for the ride, because we really wanted you here today," Trish rose from Paul's lap and sat a couple feet away. Chris was still in the process of wishing he hadn't said anything when his ears perked up at the new topic of discussion just as the words rolled off Trish's tongue. "How's Steph?"

"She's great. Why do you ask?"

"What's up with you and Steph?" Paul cut in as he slid back up to Trish and curled his arm around her waist from behind. He raised an eyebrow at Chris, putting all of his suspicions on full display. "I'm not the most innocent guy when it comes to my past with women, but if I ever spent the night with one, it was because it meant something."

"So?" Chris smirked.

"So give us the scoop, dude. Are you dating her or what?" Paul shot back.

"I understand how it looks from the outside, but that's not the way it was the other night."

Paul jokingly leaned in towards Trish and muttered loudly enough for him to hear, "That's what they all say."

"Oh shut the hell up," Chris jested as they both laughed at the growing blush immersing each of his cheeks. "It seriously wasn't like that," he brought his right leg up and placed his foot on a wide ridge inside the boat. "She came to my room and asked to spend the night, but I think it was probably just because she had another argument with Vince. She didn't tell me that, I just assumed."

"And you shared a bed?" Trish drilled. Stephanie had given her the full scoop and maintained that they hadn't shared a bed or anything else, but she was testing Chris. If he gave her a different story, even slightly varied, she would know someone was lying and it would allow her to dig deeper. It wasn't the nicest habit in the world to be a snooper, but somebody had to do it, and it was a role Trish was glad to fill.

"Nope. I gave her my bed and slept on the couch."

"Oh, okay, that's what she told me," Trish nodded before a guilty grimace formed on her face. She had just given herself away, and if Chris's smirk was any indication, he had noticed her mistake.

"If Steph told you then why'd you ask, _hmm_?" he teased.

"All right, fine, you caught me, but I only wanted to see if you would give the same story she did."

"Were just friends, but Vince...well, I don't know," Chris shrugged it off, not wanting to stick his foot in his mouth. All he had were his suspicions to go off of, and he couldn't prove his boss was trying to push him towards Stephanie, but it was always a definite possibility. At first, Chris thought he was picking up on things that weren't there, but with Stephanie all but hinting to him during their night spent together that Vince encouraged her to hang around him, it left his mind running rampant with thoughts of what could be.

"Say it, you can't leave us hanging like that," Paul chimed in. "What were you gonna say about Vince?"

"It's nothing," he shook his head, "never mind."

But it wasn't nothing - - it was definitely _something_.


	3. It's All a Ruse

"Matt, tell her she's being unreasonable," Amy instructed as she tapped his arm.

Matt was in the driver's seat of his rental with Amy sitting across from him, and their bodies were swiveled in the direction of the backseat, where Stephanie was splayed out like a Persian rug. Her face was squished against the seat and her hair strewn all about, a display meant to prove her final decision had been made - - she wasn't planning on stepping a single foot inside the arena. A full five minutes had passed since Matt pulled into the parking space in front of the venue and turned the car off, and now all they were waiting for was Stephanie to exit the vehicle. After two failed attempts to pretend they were leaving her, she _still_ hadn't risen from her sanctuary, so they bypassed that plan and put their savvy speaking skills to the test to smoke her out with words.

"Steph, you're being unreasonable," Matt said, evoking a tiny shove from Amy.

"I didn't mean in those _exact _words!" she hissed, as if Stephanie couldn't hear their conversation. "Talk to her naturally. Come on, I know you have a way with words when you want to."

"Okay, all right, fine," Matt held his hands up and cleared his throat before turning towards the backseat again, "Hey, Stephanie, don't you want to go inside and see if Chris is here?" he questioned, as if it was the most appealing offer to ever be extended.

"No..." Stephanie moaned before grabbing her jacket from the floor and tossing it over her head to cover herself.

"Oh my gosh, why would you mention him? You just made it worse," Amy shook her head, but the corners of her mouth, threatening to expand into a full-blown smile, gave her away.

While it wasn't amusing that her friend was hurt, she _did_ see the humor in Stephanie's dramatization of her weekend excursion. Her behavior while away hadn't been stellar, and Amy had attempted to stop her from participating in actions she might later regret, but Stephanie was a woman sparked by spontaneity. Granted, few people knew the detail of what she engaged in with the charming man from the golf course, but Stephanie assumed it would only be a matter of time before it made the rounds to Chris, and she couldn't face him. Foolish decisions had been so much easier to make when she didn't have someone sitting her down and speaking the truth about why she was putting herself at risk by doing them.

Whether based in truth or not, Stephanie wasn't certain Chris thought much of her anymore to begin with, and any positive feelings left over would dissipate when he heard about her latest outing with Amy. Stephanie's urges had taken over, impulses she couldn't control, and instead of accepting Amy's sensible advise and bowing out when she had the chance, Stephanie thrust herself right back into a downward spiral. Of all the places she was prepared to be right then, work was the last spot she ever would have chosen, and that was the reason she remained tucked away in the backseat of her friends' car. It served as a spectacular hiding place, maybe even for the remainder of the night.

"You know you're more than welcome to hang out in our locker room for the rest of the day," Amy perched her chin beside the headrest of her seat as she addressed the ever-sulking Stephanie. "You don't have to see Chris if you don't want to, and I'll even make sure he doesn't get his feelings hurt in the process. I can just say you're sick and don't want him to catch the cold you have."

"He'll hate me even more than he probably already does if he finds out what I did," she mumbled.

"That's crazy and you know it. Chris could never hate you, and if he did, which he _doesn't_, but if he did, why would he go out of his way to keep you safe? He tries everything to take you out of this party lifestyle you're so attached to, and someone who didn't care would never put in that amount of effort," Amy pointed out. There was a fine line between experiencing sorrow and plain old feeling sorry for oneself, and Stephanie was beginning to cross over into the latter. "Stop it with all this moping and let's go inside."

"Fine, but I'm wearing my shades," Stephanie grumbled.

Her jacket slid off her head and landed in a puddle beside her as she reached into her purse and retrieved a pair of rather large sunglasses. While sliding them in place, Amy smoothed down some of her unkempt strands of hair that had been ruffled during her session of bemoaning. Amy just so happened to glance out the back window and was greeted by the sight of the subject of their conversation. Not only had Chris spotted them, but he was headed right their way, and Amy saw fit to warn Stephanie.

"Don't freak out, but Chris is coming over here," she said, thinking the announcement wouldn't be a big deal but, instead, finding how superbly wrong she was. Stephanie snatched her jacket and tossed it back over her head, like a protective tarp, before diving down on the seat and assuming the position. With Chris approaching rapidly, Amy tapped Stephanie's exposed arm. "I don't mean to be rude about this, but don't you think if you start covering yourself up, and generally acting like a weirdo, it's going to make Chris a lot more suspicious than if you would just act natural?"

"No," Stephanie argued before adding, "tell him I'm really, _really_ sick and can't talk."

Two paces more and his knuckles were rapping on the door as he waved at Amy and Matt. They returned the gesture and, when Chris's eyes traveled towards the back seat, Amy pushed her door open and stepped out. A frown was already wrinkling his brow when Chris spoke his first words to her, "Isn't Stephanie back there? I thought I saw her in your car."

"Yeah," Amy paused to clear her throat as Matt got out of the opposite side of the vehicle and began pulling his bags out. "See, the thing is, she's really sick and doesn't want to get you sick, so she was trying to stay away from everyone."

"Then wouldn't she travel alone or with her family instead of you guys?" he asked. His line of questioning was innocent enough, but Amy didn't like dodging curve balls, especially when she wasn't the person who deserved the third-degree. Sick of the run-around, she redirected Chris's attention where it really belonged.

"I'm not sure, but you can ask her," she pointed at the back door, and Chris pulled it open. Stephanie - - being privy to their conversation - - had been on guard, and the second the warm, sticky air of the outdoors swirled inside, she clutched her purse and bolted from the car. Jacket still covering her head, she motioned to Amy and put on her best flu voice.

"Hi, Chris, I'm not feeling good, so I've gotta run. Come on, Amy," Stephanie urged.

Amy started towards Stephanie, but made eye contact with Chris as she passed, and noticed a flicker of rejection burning in his gaze. Just as she predicted, his feelings were inadvertently hurt, and it was all because Stephanie couldn't find a way to set the nonsense aside. Chris never would have had any clue what had taken place during her weekend if she wouldn't have eluded to it, and Stephanie was only drawing extra attention to herself for no logical reason...or _was_ she? That was the moment the light bulb clicked on inside Amy's head and, suddenly, it all made sense.

Amy waved to Matt and called out that she would see him later, which he responded to by blowing her a kiss. Both men hung back while she fell in stride beside Stephanie, but Amy was too distracted to worry herself with making conversation. Stephanie admitted to her during their breakfast in Connecticut that she liked having Chris douse her with attention and that it made her feel special to have him looking out for her. Being the intelligent woman she was, Stephanie must have been aware she was drawing excess attention to herself by behaving as outlandishly as she was, which only made sense if she was trying to accomplish one thing - - she was indirectly leading Chris to herself.

Mystery solved.

Chris shoved his hands in his pockets and kicked at the ground while he unconsciously gnawed his bottom lip. In the wake of the women's retreating figures, he couldn't shake the odd vibe Stephanie presented. He had seen her sick before, and it hadn't sent her scrambling to evade him in the past, so there had to be a hidden motivator. Matt cautious eyes were already on Chris when he faced forward, probably expecting Chris would have a barrage of questions lined up and, in fact, he was absolutely right.

"Is Stephanie okay?" Chris thumbed behind himself, but when he turned back to check, the girls had already disappeared into the arena. "It's fine if she's sick, but she was acting a little weird."

"She's, uh, goin' through some stuff, from the sounds of it," Matt shut his door and walked around the car as he and Chris headed towards the arena. A growing cluster of fans were screaming their names from behind the metal guardrail off to the side of the lot, and they each made it a point to wave as they continued inside.

"What kinds of stuff? Did she not want to talk to me?" Chris asked. That assumption pained his heart more than he cared to admit, because there never existed a time when he hadn't been interested in seeing Stephanie. She was always the highlight of every show he attended, and to think he harbored unrequited feelings was a massive shot to his pride.

"Naw, no, it wasn't that," Matt readjusted the shoulder strap of his bag. "Listen, if I tell you what's goin' on, you can't say anything to anyone, especially not _her_, but I know why she's avoiding you. Stephanie talked to Amy about it on the way here, and she expected us to keep it a secret, but I'll tell you as long as you won't go blurting it out."

"Dude, I'm not a child, I can keep a secret," Chris chuckled.

"All right, well this is what happened with her and Amy when they went to the golf course last week..."

In the time it took Matt to offer an explanation to Chris, Stephanie and Amy scuttled to the broadcast table in the near-empty arena.

"Explain to me again why we're hiding out ringside," Amy turned to Stephanie, who was slouched down in her fold-out chair with her feet resting atop the announce table.

She seemed so relaxed it was hard to believe she was the same basket case who had just come in from the parking lot with her jacket hanging over her head. Stephanie met Amy's gaze for a couple seconds before turning back to the in-ring action. A couple of the agents were coaching the females and, in doing so, providing entertainment that was a welcome distraction for Stephanie. When the women were on their game, it was a fascinating sight to behold.

"Because we have to avoid you-know-who, and I don't think he comes out here often before the show starts. Besides, my dad is holding a talent meeting in a little while, so Chris will probably be sitting in on that, and I can steer clear out here," she said, still studying the bustle inside the ring, and Amy burst into uncontrollable laughter before she could stop herself. Stephanie turned sharply, frowning her confusion, "What's so funny?"

"You are," Amy replied before slapping her knee and hunching over for another round of giggles.

"Why?" Stephanie asked, more bashfully than she cared to be.

"Nothing, you're just so totally obvious," Amy wiped her watery eyes as she came down from her laughing spell. "Let's be real right now. We need to see here with one another," she said, using the index and middle fingers of her right hand to signal between her and Stephanie's eyes.

"We _are_ right here," Stephanie returned the action.

"No, we're not. I know what you were doing back at the car, and all I want is for you to admit it."

"Admit what?"

"The innocent act doesn't work on me, Steph," Amy smiled and tucked some hair out of her face. "You acted weird in front of Chris on purpose because you knew it would make him worry and seek you out. I remember you saying how much you like that he cares about you, and all this pretending to be sick was a ruse to make him chase after you out of concern, wasn't it?"

"What? No..." Stephanie's adamant denial came flooding in as she shook her head and folded her arms. She frowned at Amy as if she was speaking a foreign language, but the longer their stare-off continued, the more Stephanie crumbled until, finally, she resigned herself to the truth. "Fine, you caught me, but I need Chris's help. I always feel bad after I do stupid stuff, and I know he would make me feel better. When I'm with him, I feel like I can do _anything_, but when I'm alone, I feel...expendable."

"Expendable?"

"Yeah, you know, I just feel like it doesn't matter what I do, because nobody really cares. When Chris is with me, it isn't like that, because I _know_ he cares. I can see it every time he looks at me, and it's nice having that with him."

Amy wanted to understand her explanation, but a few parts were difficult to wrap her mind around. "So, why is it that you don't think your parents care? Vince and Linda are always trying to keep you safe and get frustrated when you do crazy stuff, just like Chris does."

"No, my mom won't talk about it, and Dad only gets mad because he's afraid I'll make _him_ look bad. Work is all he ever pays attention to anyway," Stephanie said, and there was a definite shift from melancholy to a more resentful side of her. Amy noticed it right away but didn't care to interrupt when Stephanie was on such a roll. She figured it better to allow her to vent and interject later, when tensions weren't running so high. "Did you know my parents used to leave Shane and I home with a nanny more than half of every single week when we were younger?"

"Wow, no, I didn't," Amy said.

"Yeah, that's because they never admit it, since they don't want anyone to know they're not perfect. They pretend to be these model parents who care so much about their kids, but where were they when I needed them?" Stephanie demanded, tears brimming in her eyes. She blinked them back and slid her feet off the table to sit up straighter in her seat. Amy felt guilty for hitting a nerve she hadn't meant to go anywhere near, but once suppressed emotions came tumbling out, they couldn't readily be halted. "I was all alone except for a nanny and a chef, that's it. I tried to call them at work, and even begged them to come home a bunch of times, but they were always busy. My parents can say they love me all they want, but I've been abandoned by them for almost my entire life."

"I'm so sorry, Steph. Geez, I just...I wish I had the words to say, but I don't think anything I do can make things right. I hope you know I _really _care about you, and so do lots of other people," Amy rambled, wanting to do anything to wipe the look of hurt from her face. "I know this probably isn't what you want to hear, but I'm sure your parents love you, and I think they did the best they could at the time. I really wish you would talk to them about it, because they would have a lot more insight on the situation than me. Do you ever talk about it with Shane?"

"Not anymore, because he says I'm being dramatic, but I'm not. It hurts."

"Oh my goodness, Steph, you're seriously breaking my heart right now. I have to give you a hug," Amy remained seated but engulfed Stephanie in a genial embrace. When they pulled away, she found a more hopeful version of Stephanie awaiting her and rejoiced in that. "I know you might not agree, but I think talking to Chris about this would do you a world of good. He understands you in a really special way, and I know he'd have a lot more words of wisdom than I do. Just talk to him straight from the heart, and I know that sounds cheesy but, really, you should."

Managing a smile, Stephanie nodded her acquiescence, "I'll find him after the show. Will you and Matt go to dinner with Chris and I if they both agree to it?"

"I'm there."

"Thanks. You're so good to me."

"Hey, what else are friends for?" Amy quizzed before they rose from their seats and headed for the backstage area. Stephanie was hopeful about delighting in some alone time with Chris, because there was plenty to talk about.

A compelling night lay ahead.


	4. Friendship: The Slow Ripening Fruit

"So are we on for a double date thing, or what?" Amy stood with her hands on her hips as she gazed at Chris and awaited his answer. The bulk of his attention was focused on Stephanie, whom he was watching with great interest.

"Actually, I want to take Stephanie out on my own. We can meet up with you guys later though, if you want to," Chris offered, not taking his eyes off Stephanie for even a second. Quite a day had transpired, and he wouldn't be able to sleep soundly if he didn't give Stephanie a pep talk, which, from the sounds of it, she was in desperate need of. Chris often worried he would cross the line and come off as more of a parental type of authority figure to her than a friend, but he couldn't stand by and watch Stephanie struggle - - not without offering some type of assistance. Chris couldn't be considered a true friend of hers if he didn't do everything in his power to enrich her life to its fullest potential.

"Okay, that'll work. Just call us when you're ready," Amy said before leaning in to hug Stephanie. She found it slightly amusing that, as Stephanie's friends, they worked on her in shifts, without even having to go so far as to plan it out ahead of time. One person took her for a while and tried to make her see the light, and when they had to leave, the next person picked up right where the process left off. It was tough work, but they were glad to step forward and take the reigns. "Bye, Steph, I'll see you later."

"Bye, and thanks for spending the weekend with me," she remarked, thankful for the positive distraction Amy provided.

Stephanie attempted to angle her stance in the opposite direction from Chris, despising it when he stared at her the way he was and wanting to remove his ability to do so. Chris often read her like a book, and Stephanie wasn't sure she felt ready to be so daringly open with him. She trusted him with her secrets, of course, but a large part of her felt she had to conceal her deepest thoughts from everyone, because they were the only prize she had all to herself. Her most treasured secrets were locked away in a proverbial chest, and she wasn't ready to hand the key over to anyone quite yet.

"It was my pleasure, we'll have to do it again another time. Bye, Chris," Amy waved to him, and he returned the gesture, finally breaking eye contact with Stephanie to see Amy off.

As she proceeded down the hallway, Chris motioned for Stephanie to grab her purse and work case, which were still resting on the production table a few feet away. People were slowly beginning to trickle out of the building as their segments and matches ended, and since it was only another 30 minutes away from the end of the show, Stephanie didn't anticipate Vince having a problem with her making an early escape. She grabbed her bags and hurried back to Chris, who slipped his protective arm around her shoulders and led her down the hallway. Her tensed posture decompressed within seconds under his healing touch, and she rested her head on his shoulder as they strolled out, waving goodbye to friends they passed along the way.

Vince, with rather impeccable timing, happened to be headed their way after having retrieved a packet of papers from his office and had one hand in his pocket while the other was secured around the rolled up packet he had been in search of. When he first caught sight of Chris and Stephanie walking towards him, Vince beamed his approval of the duo spending time together, and Stephanie said a silent prayer he wouldn't do anything to embarrass her. Chris slowed to a stop as Vince stuck his hand out. "Good work out there tonight, Chris. You looked like a pro in that ring."

"I _am_ a pro, so it's only fitting," Chris japed. His relationship with Vince had progressed to the point where he felt comfortable enough to exchange quips without risking any sort of backlash. It was difficult to believe there once existed a time when he had to be conscious of every word spoken in front of Vince, for fear of pissing his boss off before he could get off the ground and ruining his potential career. His graduation from rookie stage to superstar was an accomplishment he refused to take for granted.

"That you are," he replied as his eyes trailed the length of Chris's arm, which was still draped snugly over Stephanie's shoulders. Vince craved wholeness and health for Stephanie's life and was finding it increasingly difficult to believe she could accomplish that without surrounding herself with good people, so finding her spending time with Chris was a situation he would always be behind. He wasn't entirely sure Stephanie understood why Chris was such positive reinforcement for her but was confident she would, even sooner than she might expect. "So, how are _we_ doing today?" his eyes danced in amusement as he glanced between the two of them.

"Dad..." Stephanie brushed her right hand over her face while Chris chuckled at her reaction and guided her hand back down to her side. No matter how old she grew, Stephanie's parents never lost the ability to send her barreling back to her teenage years, when everything they did sent her a wave of unrelenting humiliation, and this time proved to be no exception. All it took was for Vince to become just a tad too eager in a situation, and his enthusiasm reverted to behavior that was borderline gauche.

"We're fine," Chris spoke up, answering for both of them, in a kind attempt to remove some of the pressure Stephanie was experiencing. "I was hoping I could take her out to a nice dinner. We eat so much fast food and junk on the road that I figured she would want to slow down and have an actual meal for once."

"I'm sure she'll love that. Just a minute," Vince reached into his pocket and fished his wallet out, and Stephanie groaned and covered her face a second time. His heart was in the right place, but sometimes she wished her dad could just leave well enough alone. His knee-jerk reaction of pulling his wallet out and tossing money at her and Chris anytime they mentioned going out somewhere had quickly morphed from sweet to excruciating.

"Dad, you pay Chris well enough to afford a good dinner. He doesn't need your money and, besides, I'm picking up the tab tonight," Stephanie explained, much to the chagrin of Chris.

"Over my dead body," he argued, shaking his head. "You're doing me the honor of coming out tonight, and there's no way in hell I'm letting you pay. I won't let you pay either, Vince," Chris said, nudging Vince's hand away after he produced a few large bills to fund their evening. "I've got it all covered. The only thing I need from Stephanie is her company."

"All right then. I've gotta get back to work, but you two have fun, and make sure you have these outings with each other more often. You look good together," Vince patted Chris's arm before tucking his money back inside his wallet, slipping it into his pocket, and continuing down the hallway.

"Bye, Dad," Stephanie called over her shoulder before rolling her eyes at Chris in response to Vince's parting words.

He shrugged and laughed, making the best of a slightly awkward situation, and lead her the remainder of the way out of the building and to his awaiting car. After a short debate, they decided on French cuisine, since Chris and Stephanie agreed it would be a nice change from the sorts of foods they normally ate. Being on the road forced them to choose something fast, and they couldn't always avoid resorting to processed junk from a drive-thru window or lower end restaurant. When the opportunity presented itself to sit down for a gourmet meal, they swooped in like a vulture claiming its prey.

Upon their arrival at the restaurant, they were seated quickly and Stephanie requested a glass of sparkling champagne to start with, while Chris opted for the more standard choice of red wine. As they waited on the waitress to return, Stephanie doodled invisibly, with the use of her index finger, across the immaculate, white tablecloth. Chris was bemused as to why she wasn't scanning the menu for what she might want to eat but assumed distraction was the culprit and picked out a couple appetizers they could test out together. "Hey, Steph, you like escargot, right?"

Her eyes lit up brilliantly as she raised her head and giggled, "I grew up on that. Whenever I went to parties with my parents, Shane and I were always given escargot as a snack."

"They've got those with garlic butter and then there's crab cakes too. You wanna try those for our appetizers?"

"Yeah, that's good," Stephanie nodded. The waitress set their drinks down a moment later, and Chris thanked her before ordering the appetizers. As they spoke, Stephanie distracted herself with a whole lot of daydreaming, and Chris nudged her foot under the table when he was finished, at which she snapped her head up to look at him. "Why did you do that?"

"Pick up your menu and figure out what you want for the main course, or else I'll order for you."

"You pick for me," she agreed.

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

They made small talk while Chris glanced over the menu, mostly because he wanted to save the more serious discussion for further down the line and, about five minutes later, their appetizers were ready. "Here comes some food," Chris alerted Stephanie, having spied the waitress coming up behind her. She placed her cloth napkin in her lap in preparation, which inadvertently encouraged Chris to do the same.

After the plates were down in front of them, Chris went straight for a crab cake and placed it on his saucer. He was glad to have some food to act as a buffer, of sorts, to distract Stephanie enough that he could broach the real topic he had been waiting to discuss. According to the information he received from Matt, Stephanie had been back to her old ways over the weekend, and Chris certainly wasn't her father, but he still felt the need to put his foot down, at least somewhat. Stephanie was a great friend of his, and he couldn't live down something bad happening to her, especially if it was an occurrence he could have prevented by being more proactive.

"I talked to Matt earlier," he spoke around a small bite of his crab cake and balanced the menu in his opposing hand. Stephanie nodded and took a sip from her glass, eyes locking with his as she brought it back down to the table. She picked up her fork and went in for the escargot, smiling around her bite when Chris raised an eyebrow, as if to ask whether she liked it or not.

"It's really good," she told him after swallowing her first bite.

"Good, I'm glad you like it. Is there anything you want to talk to me about?"

"Why bother? Matt probably told you everything earlier."

"No, he didn't, I couldn't get anything out of him," Chris disputed. He was lying through his pearly white teeth, of course, but he promised Matt he wouldn't out him for spilling the beans. Matt had been nice enough to let him in on what was happening in Stephanie's life, and Chris would never do anything to break the trust Matt had diligently worked to form with Stephanie. "All he told me was that he's worried about you, and so am I. I wish you would talk to me about your life."

"Who says anything's wrong?"

"Well, you pretended to be sick earlier tonight just to get out of talking to me. It's either that or you made the most miraculous recovery I've ever seen, which I highly doubt, so why were you avoiding me?"

Her eyes ballooned to twice their size and she placed her fork down on her plate, as her chewing slowed to a stop. "I didn't mean to hurt you. I'm sorry for doing that, Chris."

"Hey, none of that," he shushed her gently. "My feelings aren't hurt, but I want you to talk to me. What's going on with you?"

"I hooked up with a random guy from the golf course last week."

"Hooked up, as in, kissed?"

"Not exactly. Kissing was only the tip of the iceberg," Stephanie admitted, as her cheeks flushed crimson. "He was really sweet and good-looking, and I wanted to be with him, so I was. Amy was there with me, and I couldn't just leave the place and bring the guy to my house without her, because I was her ride, so..."

Chris's inner dread swirled rampantly as he watched the emotions on her face flash from self-loathing, to regret, to sorrow, and back again. The worst part of hearing how deeply Stephanie had faltered was seeing the pain her actions inflicted in the aftermath. Watching her flounder and become so helpless made Chris _feel_ helpless. "I'm not judging you, but I'd like to know exactly what you did, if you're willing to tell me."

"I couldn't just leave with the guy in my car, because then Amy would have been left behind at the golf course to fend for herself."

"Right, so what did you do?" Chris pressed on.

"I introduced Amy to some guys on the green to keep her occupied. Then I went off with the guy I met to his car, and we got in the backseat."

"Oh," Chris nodded slowly and wiped his mouth with his napkin.

In the time it took him to process Stephanie's confession, the waitress came back around to take their orders, and though he hadn't given himself enough time to look over the menu, he honored Stephanie's choice in having him choose a menu item for her. Chris decided on the Cod Filet with Julienne Vegetables for Stephanie and Beef Bourguignon for himself. After their menus were taken away and they were alone again, Chris took a sip of his wine and an additional drink from his water glass to soothe his parched throat. Stephanie was hurt, and the last thing he wanted to do was make her feel attacked for her decisions, so he mulled over his word choice before voicing it.

What Stephanie partook in over the weekend had been entirely her choice, and she was free to carry out her wishes as she saw fit, but Chris wanted to help her see she could make better choices. She had the entire world at her beck and call but continuously threw life-changing opportunities away in favor of engaging in destructive behavior. It was a phenomenon he didn't have a great handle on, but Chris wasn't ready to throw in the towel. It would take a lot of work to push Stephanie to the heights she had the potential of reaching, but she was more than worth the effort. There was a reason he chose Stephanie to be his best friend, and now was the time to show her the true extent of their friendship.

"No man, who has even a modicum of respect for you, would do that within minutes of meeting. I can't control you, obviously, but you know you deserve much better than a guy who would have sex with you in the backseat of his car, right? "

"It was a huge SUV."

"And that makes a difference because...?" he goaded.

"It doesn't, I was just saying," Stephanie scratched her cheek absently as her eyes darted around everywhere _except_ at Chris. It was difficult to be honest about her worst offenses, because it was beyond embarrassing to have him viewing her in such a harsh light. The only thing that pushed her to come clean was that she trusted in his abilities to help her, and he couldn't do that if she didn't start giving him the full truth. "I like to feel special, and being with guys makes me feel that way no matter what. Deep down, I know just because a guy has sex with me doesn't mean he loves me, but it's like, at the time, I'm able to trick myself into believing I'm the only person in his world who matters."

"Do you think you're loved by most people?"

"No."

"You don't?"

"No, I don't feel I am," she shook her head and sank down in her seat, turning defensive. "I'm sorry, but people toss around the words 'I love you' all the time, and rarely do they actually understand the extent of what that phrase means. I'm sick of people saying that to me when their actions clearly show that's not how they really feel."

"What exactly are we talking about here?" Chris pushed, sensing he was on the precipice of a huge breakthrough with Stephanie. It had taken minimal encouragement to get Stephanie to open up, and he was proud of himself for putting in the effort. They were finally making progress.

"Nothing," she answered softly, staring at the table while she fiddled with the cloth napkin in her lap.

"You can tell me."

"I hate the way I feel, and I can't ever seem to shake it," Stephanie admitted, glancing up to find Chris wearing a sympathetic gaze. She despised having him look at her like that, because she wanted him to enjoy her company, rather than spend the time feeling sorry for her. Their entire friendship was revolving around what a mess she was instead of being based on two people who simply enjoyed each other's time, and it was starting to mess with her head. "When I'm with you I feel better, but when we're apart, I go back to feeling like no one cares. I'm...I think I'm just a different kind of person, Chris."

"There's nothing wrong with being different, but you have to start being better to yourself. I happen to know for a fact there are plenty of people we just left backstage who would die for you. If anything ever happened to you, they would fall apart, and I don't know why you don't see that. We love you, Steph, and I say that meaning every single person you work with backstage. We all want to see you happy and doing well."

As if they planned it themselves, their plates were placed in front of them with expert timing, and Chris thanked the waitress but didn't make a move to eat, because he was too engrossed in Stephanie to be bothered with anything as trivial as food. She bit her lip and frowned, a show of her deep concentration, as she burned a hole right through the tablecloth, and it was only a few seconds more before she was sliding her plate and drinking glass across the table to the empty space beside Chris. She rounded the table under his watchful gaze and lowered herself in the seat next to him. Stephanie slipped her arms around his neck and hugged him snugly to her body before releasing their embrace to get started on her dinner.

She remained at Chris's side for the entirety of their meal.

They ate at their leisure, savoring the rapidly ticking seconds of their time together, and it was nearly an hour later when they returned to the car and began the journey back to their hotel. Chris stole a glance at Stephanie from the driver's seat, "Did you have a good time tonight?"

"I did, and I wish it didn't have to end," Stephanie admitted, while staring out the window at the passing city lights.

She was already dreading the loss she was certain to feel when Chris dropped her off at her room. If she were to bring up spending the night in his room, he would probably go for it, but she didn't want to come off too clingy. Chris already did more for her than any of her other friends, and the greatest part was she didn't have to prompt him to take action. If she took advantage of his generosity, she would risk losing Chris, and it simply wouldn't be possible to overcome her demons in his absence.

"You're never alone. If you need me, I'm here—just say the word."

"I don't want to be needy, but it's going to be hard leaving you tonight."

"Then I won't leave you. Do you want to watch TV? We can see what's showing on the movie channels when we get to the hotel," Chris offered. Relief was immediate once she knew she wouldn't be spending her night alone with her own thoughts, which always seemed to spell disaster. Becoming attached to Chris to the point that she couldn't stomach being alone wasn't healthy, but her confidence would grow in time, and time was one of the many things she had an abundance of.

"Can I also spend the night in your room, like I did the last time?"

"You're more than welcome to. I've got a suite again, so I'll take the couch and you can have the bed."

"You're such a good friend, Chris. You're my hero, seriously."

"Didn't I tell you there's nothing I wouldn't do for you?" he asked, and she answered, despite the fact that it was a rhetorical question.

"Yeah, you did. You're the only person who's ever always here for me."

"And I always will be."

Stephanie smiled and reached out to squeeze his free hand. "We should have our own show—Chris & Stephanie vs. The World. What do you think?"

"I think it sounds perfect."


	5. Raze the Old, Raise the New

"You know what would make this night complete?"

"What?"

"Buttered popcorn," Stephanie retorted, covering her mouth and giggling.

"Popcorn? Of all things, I wouldn't have guessed you were gonna say that," Chris laughed. He was splayed out in his hotel room, on the couch behind Stephanie, while she sat parallel to the floor, with her back resting up against the side of the sofa. It had taken around 10 minutes to decide on a movie to watch, but they would have chosen much quicker had they not seen fit to cackle - - like a couple of sheltered schoolchildren who saw two adults kiss for the first time - - over the wide assortment of porn flicks being offered. The way Chris and Stephanie saw it, only _true_ friends could behave in such a manner without being judged for it, so that was something positive to be said for the nature of their relationship.

"This movie sucks," she complained, with a distasteful scrunch of the nose to boot.

"What else do you expect out of a movie called Freddy Got Fingered? You're the pervert who picked it out just because of the name."

"I did _not_, I picked it because Tom Green is in it!" Stephanie crossed her arms in a show of playful indignation and put on a woeful pout.

"Don't even try to deny it, you perverted girl," Chris japed. He reached down to ruffle her hair, and Stephanie squealed and shoved his hand away before hoisting herself up on both knees and grasping in the general direction of his hair, which was still fastened in a low ponytail. Chris's eyes expanded rapidly, in a feigned show of horror, as he coltishly slapped her hands away while shielding his untouched hair with the opposing arm. "No, you're gonna ruin me!"

"Good, you deserve it," she shot back. Stephanie sought after his hair and braved his profuse rebuttals, but when Chris continued getting the best of her, she stood from the floor and climbed onto his lap, lopsidedly straddling his waist as he continued to block her attempts. "Let me touch your hair."

"No way, why would I give you a freebee like that?"

"Because you adore me, that's why," she batted her eyelashes at him.

"I can't argue with that, but you still can't touch my hair. These locks of pure gold are precious, junior!"

"Oh, shut it," Stephanie rolled her eyes in jest and attempted to crawl off his lap, but as soon as Chris felt the shift, he grabbed her by the waist to hold her still. All traces of humor dissipated as he looked into her eyes, but Stephanie remained smiling in an attempt to inject some lightheartedness into the moment. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"I want to talk to you for a minute, and I mean _really_ talk."

"About this atrocious movie?" she joked while pointing at the television screen, but Chris latched onto her hand and lowered it.

"No, and stop trying to change the subject."

"I'm not, but there's nothing to talk about. I said everything I needed to tell you over dinner," she pointed out. Chris wordlessly raised both hands and ran his fingertips down the length of her arms before clutching Stephanie's wrists and pulling her down gently on top of him. Her left cheek pressed into his chest as he enveloped her with his arms and held her around the waist so she wouldn't slide right off of him. Stephanie spoke up, "My dad would be so happy if he could see us right now. This is exactly what he wants."

"You and I together?"

"Yep."

"Is that such a bad idea?" Chris asked, while doodling across her clothed back with his fingers.

Stephanie frowned, assuming she must have heard him wrong, but when she picked her head up, there was a hopeful expectancy in his eyes. Stephanie had always thought highly of Chris and his innate ability to detect exactly what she needed at any given point in time. That was the very reason they had been best friends for so long, and there wasn't much, if any, reason she could find as to why they shouldn't be together. The manner in which Chris brought the topic up was indicative of his confidence in them as a couple, because he didn't show any of the classic signs of anxiety. He must have known in his heart it was the right thing, and his certainty rubbed off on Stephanie in a big way.

"I don't think it's a bad idea at all."

"Well, that's good, because if you thought it was awful, I was planning on forcing you to date me anyway. I bought this steel chain with a deadbolt lock and I was gonna link us together for all eternity," he teased, grinning as he toyed absently with the charm on the bracelet dangling loosely from her wrist. "I bet we would be really good for each other. We have talks, laugh, do fun stuff, and you're always saying you don't want me to leave you at the end of the night, so I figure we might as well be together and we won't have to leave each other ever, except on special occasions. I'd be so proud to be with you."

"Oh yeah?" Stephanie's eyes flashed with elation as she rested her hands on Chris's firm chest while he cradled her.

"Yeah," he nodded, grasping a piece of her hair and twirling it around his finger. "I can't stand seeing you have such a hard time like you have lately, and I want to be here for you, but I want more than that. I'm sick of these jackasses who don't even deserve you getting all your attention on the weekends, when I could have you with _me_ instead."

"That's so sweet. I wish you would have told me this sooner."

"I wanted to, but I wasn't sure how it would look for me to date my boss's daughter," he admitted. "Vince doesn't care, obviously, but I just don't want people giving you a hard time backstage for being with me. I don't give a damn if they talk shit about me, but if it gets directed at you, fists are gonna fly."

"I love that you want to protect me, but the last thing I need is you getting in fights. Besides, I don't think most people will even care what goes on between us. If you think about it, we're friends with just about all the guys and girls in the back, so who is there to give us grief?"

Chris paused as he internally ran through a list of their co-workers and shrugged, "I don't know, I guess there isn't anyone."

"Right."

"So...will you be my girlfriend, my little petunia?" Chris winked as Stephanie's mouth dropped open in feigned disgust. She swatted his shoulder and attempted to push off of him altogether, but Chris was holding her too tightly to be evaded. She pouted and put her head down on his chest to shield her face, though her body trembled against his from silent laughter. "Seriously, though, will you be mine, cutie?"

Stephanie raised her head and pursed her lips before replying, "You have to ask me seriously if you want an actual answer."

Chris let go of her waist and opted to take her face in his hands, tilting her head downward so she was staring him straight in the eye. "Stephanie, you make my life better just by being in it, and I can't think of anyone I would rather spend my time with. I've had a crush on you since the day we met, and actually a little before that, since I saw you on TV before we ever met in person, but whatever," he laughed. "Will you make me a very happy man and be my girlfriend?"

"Yes, I will," Stephanie answered, without delay, before an awkward silence fell amongst them, broken only by the sound of their raucous laughter several seconds later. Stephanie shook against Chris's chest as he chortled at their extreme lack of couth, but she gathered herself and picked her head up. "I wasn't sure what was supposed to come next. Like, were we supposed to kiss or just go back to what we were doing, like nothing ever happened?"

"We're such dorks," Chris joked, as he regarded her with softened eyes and a sweet smile. "You should do whatever comes natural, Steph. You don't ever _have_ to kiss me, so just do it when you're in the moment and feel like you want to."

"Okay, I will."

Chris reached over his head for the remote control on the table behind him and aimed it at the television screen while he searched the guide for a different program, since the movie hadn't seemed to have improved in the time they spent neglecting to watch it. "So, do you want to watch a—"

In one swift motion, Chris was cut off by Stephanie's swooping lips, but her actions were refreshingly expected. There had been unbridled passion brewing between them for quite some time, and it was exhilarating to act on raw emotions for once instead of turning a blind eye. Stephanie snaked her arms around his neck as best she could, and Chris held her around the midsection as they melted into one another. Not getting a good enough taste of her, Chris reached for her face and tipped her head, allowing himself greater freedom to nip her lips in between intervals of gentle kissing.

When Stephanie pulled away, Chris grazed her bottom lip with his thumb, rubbing it gingerly while simultaneously cupping her cheek, "I felt that coming. Not that I'm complaining, but what was that for?"

His question was met with a quirky smile, "Because I wanted to."

Somewhere along the way, night blended into morning, but the lines grew so blurred in his haze, Chris wouldn't have been able to pinpoint what time of day it was, let alone the day of the week. His eyes were glued to Stephanie, spying her in admiration as she slept. Her chest rose and fell rhythmically, and a small section of hair rested against her cheek, precisely where it had fallen after she nodded off hours earlier. Chris gingerly brushed the strands away, and she mumbled incoherently and shifted in the bed, but remained in her slumber. With their upgraded relationship status, Chris hadn't been resigned to sleeping on the couch, and their night together in bed had been tame, but that didn't make it any less meaningful.

The woman he yearned for and tried to protect for so long was his for the taking, and Chris expected nothing less from himself than to show her how a _real_ man treated a woman. The time for hurt and pain had lasted long enough, and now that she was his, he felt it his duty to shield her from all harm. Chris's hope was that, after a while, Stephanie would pick up on her positive experiences with him and start having more pride in herself. His goal wasn't to change who she was as a person, but to make her realize the possibilities in life were endless and she should shoot for the stars in every situation.

"I don't want to change you," Chris murmured, softly enough that it wouldn't wake the dozing Stephanie. He brushed his thumb against her cheek in a gentle swiping motion and continued, "I want you exactly as you are, but you need to be good to yourself."

His instincts told him Stephanie needed to hear those words aloud when she was awake, and he made a mental note to tell her when the time came, but the ring of his cell phone jolted him to attention. Chris reached out for the device, which was on top of his bag on the floor, and Stephanie let out a low moan from beside him and brought a hand up to her forehead. The display boasted Trish's name, so Chris answered the call, "Hey, Trish, how's it going?"

"It's going," she answered vaguely before adding, "I was hoping I didn't wake you up."

"Nah, I was awake. What's up?"

"Paul and I want to treat everybody to breakfast this morning, so I was calling to see if you wanted to come."

"Sure, that works for me. Who else is going?"

"Matt and Amy, and I want Stephanie to be there too."

"I'm sure she'll want to go. What time should I meet you guys?" Chris inquired. He glanced over at Stephanie to find her lying on her side, watching him with the slightest hint of a smile, though her eyes gleamed with shatterproof joy. He reached out and rubbed up and down her arm, prompting her to scoot closer to him.

"Just come down to the hotel lobby in 30 minutes, okay?"

"All right, thanks for inviting me, Trish. I'll see you soon."

"I can't wait," she responded cheerfully, her last words before ending the call. Chris placed his phone down and leaned back against the headboard of the bed while he gazed down at Stephanie. She wasn't saying anything, allowing her face to speak the words for her, as her eyes locked with his.

"Would you be up for breakfast in 30 minutes, sleepyhead?"

"Who else is going?" she asked, her voice hoarse from sleep, as she flexed and stretched her cramped muscles.

"Trish and—" Chris began, before being cut off by Stephanie's shrieking cell phone. She reached sleepily behind herself to grab it, unsuccessful in her attempt, so Chris extended across the bed and nabbed it from the table. After pressing the answer button, he held the phone up to Stephanie's ear while she smiled at him in appreciation.

"Hello?" Stephanie greeted.

"Hey, it's Trish. I didn't wake you up, did I?"

"Nope, I'm up."

"Oh, good. Do you want to come out to breakfast with Paul and I? Amy and Matt are coming, and I just invited Chris."

"I know," Stephanie frowned in confusion, shrugging her shoulders when Chris mouthed a question to her about what was being said. She took the phone from his hand and held it in her own as she sat up in bed.

"Oh, did he already call and tell you?"

"No."

"You're with him?"

"Yeah."

"This early in the morning?"

"You're on a roll with the questions today, aren't you?" Stephanie chuckled as she tucked some hair behind her ear. "Hey, hold on a second," she told Trish before pulling the phone away from her ear and leaning in towards Chris. "Is it okay if I tell her?"

"Tell who, what?" Chris asked, with a perplexed tilt of the head.

"Tell Trish we're together."

"Of course," he grinned. "They're gonna find out anyways when we get down there in a minute."

"Okay," Stephanie nodded before bringing the phone back up to her ear. "Trish?"

In the time it took to carry on a short conversation with Chris, Trish had already conjured up a bundle of salacious probabilities as to what could have been going on with Chris and Stephanie the night before, and she saw the big picture before Stephanie even had to inform her. "Oh my God, I knew it! You guys spent the night together again, didn't you? Did he take the couch or did you share a bed this time?"

"Take it easy, Trish," Stephanie giggled. "You're hearing this from me first, but Chris and I are together now," she admitted, her voice hitching just the tiniest bit at her divulgence. It was still sinking in with her that she didn't have to admire Chris from afar anymore, because he was all hers to spend as much time with as she pleased. Aside from her general happiness towards being in his company, Stephanie looked forward to the positive changes she anticipated him bringing about in her life. With Chris, she could only go up, and her passion for life came flooding back in an instant.

"Oh my gosh, that is just _too_ cute!" Trish squealed.

"What is?" Paul asked in the background, and Trish covered the speaker with her hand while she caught him up on the latest developments. Though Stephanie couldn't make out exactly what he said, she heard Paul's gruff voice as he answered, and Trish was laughing when she returned to the line. "Paul says it's about time. We _all_ saw it happening."

"My dad is going to be so happy when I tell him. He's been pushing me towards Chris since, like, forever," Stephanie remarked. "At least I know to trust my dad's opinion on stuff now. I must say, he's got really good taste."

"Aw, shucks, that was sweet," Chris reached out to squeeze her thigh before getting out of bed and pointing towards the bathroom to let her know he was getting ready. Stephanie nodded and he blew her a kiss before crossing the room and disappearing behind the door. She was left in a trance, unable to concentrate on anything other than the charm of the man she had been lucky enough to score, but Trish's voice cut through her daydreams and brought her crashing back to reality.

"Steph, you still there?" she wondered.

"Sorry, I'm here, I was just distracted by Chris."

"What's he doing?" Trish quizzed, and Stephanie could almost picture her eyes lighting up, as she sat on the edge of her seat and waited for all the juicy details. There would be a time and place for that, and it wasn't going to be while she was still in the process of fully waking up, so she deflected.

"He was just blowing me a kiss, but we have to get ready now, so I'll see you guys soon, all right?"

"I'm _so_ freakin' happy for you. Get your butt down here fast so we can talk," Trish ordered.

"I will, don't you worry," Stephanie replied, chuckling as she hung up the phone and waited on Chris to finish up.

It was only seconds later when the shower sprang to life and Stephanie fell back on the bed and shut her eyes, content to listen to the light drumming of water against the shower floor. It was hard to believe less than a week prior, she was having relations with a guy she barely knew, and in a matter of days, she had graduated to a dream life with Chris. There was no doubt in her mind she wouldn't ever lower herself to such dire standards again, especially not to the point that she was having rushed sex with strangers. Stephanie was thankful she had the good sense to at least order the man to use protection...or..._had_ she?

Her eyes snapped open and she sat up in bed once more, squinting in deep concentration as she racked her brain in an attempt to remembered what she had required of the man whose backseat she so eloquently occupied. Their relations were hasty, that was definite, considering they had to do the deed efficiently enough to not get caught. Her memory of that day was vague, but Stephanie was certain she mentioned she was on birth control, and that had been her last declaration before she fell away to the man's advances. There hadn't been anymore talk of protection, and now that the incident had been drawn to the forefront of her mind, Stephanie couldn't recall ever hearing a condom wrapper or anything that would indicate she was safe.

Her eyes narrowed as she realized an unwanted pregnancy was the least of her worries. For all she knew, if the guy had been so eager to drop everything and whisk her away to his car, that type of activity could have been a common occurrence in his daily life, which he could have partaken in with plenty of other women over the course of years gone by. Some of Stephanie's mistakes were minute enough that they rolled off her back and left only a valuable lesson in their wake, while others were big enough to potentially be life-altering. This was one of the latter instances, and Stephanie hugged her arms around her body as she shuddered at the possibility of having gotten pregnant if her birth control pills failed or, worse, if she contracted an illness she couldn't easily, if at all, rid herself of.

In the blink of an eye, distress had boomeranged its way back to Stephanie, and not even the support of Chris was enough to save her.


	6. Losing Self in the Service of Others

Chris stood directly behind Stephanie on the elevator, his left hand pressed against her left hip while he held her right hand in his other one. Chris was in high spirits, and Stephanie refused to allow her sudden health concerns to ruin it, but she took the possibility of trouble on the horizon seriously enough that she had plans to get tested upon arriving home. She planned to be stealthy enough to pay a visit to the clinic with Chris being none the wiser, but he had already made mention of spending the weekend with her, so she expected to have a trying time sneaking away from him long enough to go. The elevator dinged and the doors slid open with their arrival on the ground floor, and Paul and Trish were already waiting for them in the lobby, standing across the room and speaking in hushed tones.

There was no sign of Amy or Matt yet, but they were most likely already on their way down. Stephanie became so lost in her thoughts of the weekend to come that she froze up, remaining on the elevator platform as she zoned out, until Chris squeezed her hand and jolted her back to life. When she swiveled around to see what he needed, he was grinning widely, and he nodded his head towards Paul and Trish to urge her forward. Stephanie stepped off first and Chris dropped his hand from her hip, opting only to hold her opposite hand as they crossed the room and caught the attention of Trish, who stopped mid-sentence and began beaming at the sight of their clasped hands.

"Hey, guys!" Trish waved and pulled away from Paul to give each of them a hug, starting with Stephanie. "You look so cute together. You're like the perfect little couple."

"Thanks, we try," Stephanie quipped as she leaned in to press a friendly kiss to Paul's cheek. "How are you?"

"I'm great, and you look like you're doing pretty awesome," Paul responded as he shook Chris's hand to say hello. "We were all wondering when you both would get it together. It was pretty obvious you were gonna be a couple at some point, we just couldn't figure out exactly when."

"I'm just glad she said yes. Now I get to hog her all the time, and I'm not sharing with anyone," Chris snaked his arms around Stephanie's waist from behind and pressed his right cheek against her left one while Trish pouted sweetly, in favor of the loving picture they painted.

"You'll get sick of me soon enough," Stephanie responded, and it was only meant as a joke, but Chris's face fell into a scowl.

He whispered to her, lowly enough that nobody would overhear, "Don't say things like that. Aside from it being a defeatist attitude, it's not even close to the truth."

"I know, I was only kidding," she said. Paul nodded in the direction of the elevators and they turned to find Matt and Amy headed straight for them. Upon sight of them, Stephanie added, "Oh good, now we can go get some food. I'm really hungry."

"Me too," Trish chimed in, just as Matt and Amy reached them and began greeting everyone. When they all got a chance to say their hellos, Trish spoke up once more, "If there are no objections, let's head out."

Paul, Chris, and Matt hung back and discussed the Smackdown taping planned for later that afternoon, while the women forged ahead and gossiped in hushed tones. The men were well-aware it was their girlfriends' time to dish the dirt, so they made it a point to fall back and let them get it out of their systems. While Chris didn't mind that his friends knew about his relationship with Stephanie, he wanted to be the one to sit Vince down and tell him first, because it was obviously more ideal to bring Vince up on the newest developments himself, rather than having him hear it through the grapevine from an unrelated person. Chris happened to glance up from his discussion with the guys as they trudged through the parking lot and found Stephanie turned around and watching him, while Trish and Amy tugged her forward by her arms.

The affectionate gaze Stephanie regarded Chris with cemented his decision to date her.

They needed each other.

During the course of the show that evening, Stephanie made plans to go out with Trish and Amy to a nightclub near the arena. Chris preferred that Stephanie hold off on her escapades so they could talk to Vince about their current status as a couple, but, rarely one to back down, Stephanie stood firm in her decision and left the arena with the other women as soon as their segments and matches, respectively, were completed. Chris was to meet her there, along with Paul and Matt, after they finished their matches, so he scrambled to the showers after his bout and went off in search of the other guys after he cleaned up. Life, however, had a plan of its own, and just as the show was ending, Vince happened to be sauntering down the hallway directly towards him.

"Chris, good job out there tonight!" Vince barked out, as he supplied a comradely wave, and it took a valiant effort for Chris not to groan aloud. He normally found the humor in his after-show interactions with Vince, but this evening was the one occasion he tried to avoid him. Chris loathed having his relationship with Stephanie hanging over his head and not being able to speak on it, because it was their news to tell together, and he didn't feel right disclosing it in her absence. If Stephanie would have listened to him and held off on partying at the club, they would be telling Vince about their relationship at that very second, but Stephanie was a lot to contend with, and Chris could already see he was going to have a hell of a time reining her in.

"Thanks, boss," Chris responded, slowing to a stop when he reached him. Vince clapped him on the back in a companionable manner and lead him further down the hallway.

"You headed out of here for the night?"

"Yep. Stephanie went with the girls to a club, and the guys and I are gonna go meet them there and have some drinks. It should be a good time."

"About her..." Vince halted quite suddenly, so Chris took a cue from him and stopped at his side. Vince eyeballed the people passing by and waited for them to move out of earshot before continuing, "I'm sure you've noticed I push you towards Stephanie a lot, what with the giving you money for meals and all that. There's a reason for this, and it's not a deceptive one, even if you think so."

"I honestly never thought that," Chris shrugged as he slipped his hands into his pockets. "You want the best for her, and so do I, so it makes sense you would want me to watch out for her. She's not the easiest one to get a hold on, but I try. I asked her to wait until the guys and I finished up tonight so we could all go to the club as a group, but she rushed out of here anyways, so I can see she's not easily contained."

"That's exactly the kinda thing she pulls with me, and she's an adult now, so I don't have the same control over her I used to."

"I know what you mean, and I want her to be free to do what she wants, but I need to know she's being safe about it, and I have my doubts when it comes to that. She's very reckless with her life, and, to be honest, I think a lot of it stems from her wanting attention."

Vince leaned in closely, hanging intently to Chris's every word, "She wants attention?"

"That's what I gathered when I talked to her the night she came to stay in my hotel room a couple weeks back," Chris admitted, as he recalled the words they exchanged. "I asked her why she does such crazy stuff, like the flashing at Mardi Gras, and she said she likes the attention. I told her there are positive ways to get attention, like doing better when she's here at work, but I don't know that she really understood the message I was trying to send. At this point, Steph is a major work-in-progress for me."

"What do you mean by that?" Vince asked, picking apart each of Chris's words, as he strived to find the underlying meaning. He was desperate to see a positive change in his daughter, even if that meant picking the brains of her closest friends to find out what troubled her.

"Nothing serious," he shrugged, sensing Vince's swelling concern. "I just meant it's going to take time before she gets where she needs to be. I'm guiding her the best I can, but I can only do so much, and she has to be willing to put in the effort too."

"I can agree with that," Vince nodded, rolling the bunch of papers he had and sticking them under his right arm, which successfully held them in place. "So, when you take her out to restaurants, what does she act like? Out of control?"

"No, not at all. She's sweet and talkative, but sometimes a little bit quiet if something is weighing heavily on her mind," Chris explained. "I can usually get her to open up if I can tell something's bothering her, and it's almost always the same thing."

"Which is?"

"She wants to know she's loved. I...if I tell you this, I really need you _not_ to repeat it to her or let her know I said it. I don't want her to stop confiding in me because of feeling like I tell all her secrets, which I honestly don't. I'm only telling you because I think you need to hear this."

"I won't repeat it, you've got my word," Vince raised his right hand as a signal of his promise. Chris took care to lower his voice, not wanting anyone to overhear intimate tidbits regarding Stephanie's personal life, and proceeded.

"When we went to dinner last night, I asked her if she felt loved."

"And...?" Vince waved him on.

"She said no."

"She _what_?" his eyes nearly bulged right out of his head. For a split second, Chris felt guilty for dropping such a powerful bomb on him, until he remembered everything he did was for the good of Stephanie. If her parents knew she was struggling with doubts of their love, it afforded them the opportunity to make improvements of their relationship with her, and nothing negative could ever come of that.

"I don't know any other way to put it, but she basically told me people toss the words 'I love you' around all the time, but she thinks they rarely mean it. I think a lot of the reason she does such wild stuff is because she's hurt, and this is her way of acting out so someone will take notice and reach out to her."

"How could she think that?" Vince inquired, eyes darting frantically. "I view Stephanie the same way I see Shane, and she should know how much Linda and I love her. It's a little outrageous to me that she doesn't already know that, but I have to talk to her. Where is she?"

"She went to the club," Chris reminded, as he held his hands up in a placating manner, "she's out with the girls. I'm meeting her there in a bit, but if it works for you, I'll bring Steph by your hotel room right after. We're not planning on staying at the club late...well, _Stephanie_ might be, but I'll drag her out early if I have to. I'll bring her by your hotel room and you can talk to her, which actually works out perfectly, since we both needed to talk to you anyway."

"I have to call her, she _has_ to know how I feel about her," Vince fumbled inside his suit pocket before producing his cell phone and dialing madly. He was no longer acknowledging Chris, and he didn't know whether walking away would be rude, or whether staying and being privy to his phone conversation would be intruding. To play it safe, Chris backed away in gradual steps and was planning on stopping when he got far enough that he wouldn't be within earshot of Vince's conversation, but his back bumped into a solid frame, and he turned around to find Paul spying him quizzically.

"What the hell are you doing, man?" Paul grinned. "You look all suspicious and shit, backing up with your hands in your pockets."

"Oh, nothing," Chris answered. "I was just talking to Vince, but he's calling Stephanie to have a private talk with her, so we can go now. Where's Matt?"

"He was getting ready in his locker room last I checked, but that was like 10 minutes ago, so he's probably ready now. Let's go," Paul urged. Chris complied, but not before sending a final glance in Vince's direction, where he was pacing the hallway with his cell phone pressed to his ear.

If all went well, Vince would get through to Stephanie in a way that would change her life for the better.

Stephanie's fate balanced in the palm of a rubber, blow-up pool, and she wasn't prepared to go down without a gallant effort. Fire & Ice Nightclub was almost a straight shot from the arena they had taped Smackdown in that evening, and with Trish and Amy accompanying, Stephanie had rushed over as soon as she finished taping her segments. Chris urged her to wait, but if she had come a moment later, she would have missed the wet t-shirt contest, so it all worked out for the best. After nearly 10 minutes of arguing back and forth with her friends about whether or not she should do it, Stephanie snagged a white t-shirt from the club employees and brought it to the bathroom to change into.

From what she had seen of the other girls, who were absolutely _no_ competition for her in the looks or boobs department, they were wearing string bikinis underneath their shirts. Since she hadn't prepared well enough to bring one, being that she hadn't known she was entering the contest up until the last minute, Stephanie opted to remove her bra and wear only her thong underneath the shirt, which reached the middle of her thigh. The thought of Chris filtered through her mind as she was changing, but she pushed the image away, knowing if she thought too hard about her boyfriend, she wouldn't go through with the contest, and that wasn't an option. The money the winner would receive wasn't important to Stephanie, of course, but she craved the instant acceptance that would come from the guys catcalling and whistling at her once the event got underway and she showed off her goods.

Her purse hung from a hook inside the stall, and she snatched her cell phone out when it began ringing, but groaned when she saw who was calling for the fifth time in a row. Her father was the last person she wanted to speak to when she was in the middle of stripping down to almost nothing, so she tucked her phone away and gathered the clothes she had shed. Trish and Amy were standing directly outside the stall, talking about her as if she couldn't hear them, and Stephanie had had enough. With her purse in her free hand and clothes slung over the other arm, Stephanie yanked the stall door open and sent them an icy gaze.

"Stop talking about me, okay?" Stephanie lashed out. "This is just for fun, and it's not that big a deal. If anything, you guys should be entering it with me, you're both beyond gorgeous."

"No, thanks," Trish raised an eyebrow as she studied the clothing, or lack thereof, adorning Stephanie's body.

"Yeah, I'll have to pass," Amy followed up, as she anxiously bit down on her bottom lip. "Steph, Matt just called to ask where we were and I told him. Our boyfriends are on their way right now, and what is Chris supposed to think when he walks in here and sees this? You don't want to hurt him, do you?"

"No, but he has to understand I do things like this for fun, and I can't stop having a good time just because we're dating," Stephanie shrugged. She handed her clothes and purse off to Trish, both of which she took into her care as Stephanie walked up to the mirror and began tossing her hair and running her fingers through it to create a more voluminous look. "Chris knew what kind of person I was before he asked me out, and if he wasn't ready for this, he never would have started dating me."

"That doesn't mean he'll be thrilled to walk in and see you putting your boobs on display for a bunch of drunk, loser guys," Amy pointed out.

"I'll just do it before he even gets here and change back into my other clothes - - no harm, no foul," Stephanie said before turning back to them and signaling to her face. "How does my makeup look? I left on what I had during the show tonight, and I think Jan did a pretty good job."

"She did, you look beautiful," Trish responded before adding, "Are you sure you want to go through with this, though?"

"I'm positive. Let's do it."

Paul merged onto the exit ramp of the highway and pushed the overhead light on in his rental car as Chris read him the written directions they had to get to the nightclub. Paul scratched his cheek and glanced around when he got stopped by a red light, and Chris took that opportunity to read up on where they were going, as he announced aloud, "All right, so it looks like you've gotta take a right here when the lights turns green and follow this street up past the next stoplight. Then we'll be at Orchid Avenue, and that's where we take a left and follow it to Pebble Place."

"Pebble Place?" Matt spoke up from the backseat.

"I know, dude," Paul laughed, "I was just about to ask if that's seriously the street name, and if it is, it's gotta be one of the most uncool street names ever. Pebble Place, huh?"

"That's what it says," Chris chuckled. The light turned green, and he breathed a sigh of relief he hadn't realized he had been holding onto. "Let's just hurry so I can get to my girl. She's unpredictable, and I have no clue what she's doing in this place."

"Tell me about it. It won't make me all that thrilled if I find Trish dancing with some guy in there, but I don't think she would do that," Paul guessed.

"I don't have to worry about Amy," Matt added, and he meant every word of that. The trust they shared was one of the many reasons he chose her as his life partner to begin with. "She's a levelheaded kind of girl, and I know she won't be doing anything too insane."

"We've all got good girls," Paul said, and Chris followed that up in agreement.

"We sure do—the best a man could ask for."

Stephanie stood laughing in the pool, water rising to her ankles, as she puffed her chest out while one of the other entrants dumped a bucket of cool water over her. The act was met with a raucous round of cheers from the fellow club-goers, and Stephanie returned the favor for the girl next to her, dumping water over her well-blossomed chest. The guitar solo of an eclectic rock song she didn't immediately recognize was blaring through the loud speakers, and the other four girls in the pool with her began dancing, so she joined in on the action, gyrating her hips to the pulsing beat. They began quite tamely, but the more deafening the cheers grew, the raunchier their movements became, until they all formed a semi-circle and writhed in tandem.

Stephanie lost herself in the moment, loving the ease she felt while releasing all her inhibitions. She spent every waking moment of each day worrying about what other people thought and trying to win them over, so, at the end of the day, it felt nice to let go and not give a damn what anyone had to say. Stephanie briefly wondered what Trish and Amy must have been thinking of the bold display, but she didn't dare scan the crowd in search of them, because she was certain she would find looks of horror on their faces that would be enough to make her regret entering the contest. When it came down to it, Stephanie was a competitive woman and wanted to win, so the thirst for that kept her going, as she continued to dance alongside one particular woman who had taken a liking to her.

The girl, a petite blond who Stephanie estimated must have been close to her in age, picked a leg up and curled it around Stephanie's left hip as they slithered against one another, wet hair clinging to their cheeks and necks. There was a certain substance to the other woman - - a party girl quality that Stephanie identified with on a deeper level, so they clung to one another while the announcer spoke into the microphone, urging everyone to cheer the girls on until it came time to judge the winner. Stephanie was glad she strayed from the alcohol in the moments leading up to entering the pool, because dancing around drunk in an enclosed space wouldn't have made for a good end result. The song playing in the background cut off abruptly and the women came to a rest amidst the untamed cheers of the crowd.

Stephanie whipped her drenched hair out of her face as the club patrons shrieks died down and the man on the microphone began directing them. The plan was for each of the girls to take a step forward, and the crowd would choose the winner by cheering for the woman they most enjoyed. The first entrant, a pretty but slightly chubby girl named Anabelle, stepped gingerly out of the pool and held her hands up, doing a twirl to advertise herself while the crowd hollered for her. Stephanie watched on with a smirk as each of the girls took a turn, already anticipating that she would receive the best ovation. When the man called Stephanie's name, she took a step out of the pool, and the blond who had given her special attention earlier stepped forward alongside her.

Before she had the chance to react, the other woman grabbed hold of Stephanie's cheeks and pulled her down, where their lips collided in an ostentatious kiss, meant solely to rile the crowd. The eruption from those surrounding was enormous, and when they pulled apart and held each other's hands up in victory, they were announced as the joined winners - - a finish which disappointed Stephanie - - in that she would have appreciated being the sole winner much more. Still, it was a club competition and not something to be taken seriously, so after exchanging pleasantries with her co-winner, Stephanie gazed out at the crowd that had gathered and was stunned to find Trish and Amy watching her with three additional visitors - - Paul, Matt, and a dazed-looking Chris. The expression on his face was enough to confirm to Stephanie that she had inadvertently succeeded in pushing yet another person out of her life.

She hadn't even been dating Chris for a full day and, already, she was headed down the path of losing him. Nothing worth holding onto was ever hers for long, and it was a sad fact she had resigned herself to and learned to accept. In the split second when their stunned eyes locked, all background noise ceased, and they were just two people who cared deeply for one another, each trying to figure out what the next move should be. Stephanie regained feeling in her legs and walked to him under a strength she mustered up from somewhere deep inside. There wasn't anything that could make up for what Chris must have witnessed, but she had to convince him why she was still worth his time, because he probably already concluded he didn't want a girl like her.

Suddenly, she wished Amy and Trish had put in a greater effort to stop her from doing the stupid contest at all.

She came to a rest in front of Chris, and Trish extended her hands to return her clothing. Stephanie took it gratefully before setting her sights back on Chris, regret lining her eyes as she imagined him breaking up with her on the spot. Had she known he would arrive at the club before the contest was over, she would have forgone entering in the first place. She couldn't go down without a fight though, so Stephanie figured a heartfelt apology was a safe place to start, "Chris, what you just saw was...I'm so, _so_ sorry. I shouldn't have done it, and I won't blame you if you never forgive me, but I hope you'll give me a chance to explain."

Chris licked his lips and blinked slowly, trying valiantly to find his missing voice. When he was successful in locating his vocal chords and remembering how to use them, he reached a hand out towards her, which Stephanie readily grabbed in her own, as he made a single request.

"I want to talk to you outside."


	7. The Great Forge Ahead

**A/N: **Thank you for the kind reviews so far. I'm glad so many people are reading and enjoying this.

* * *

Stephanie stood watching Chris, her eyes expanded and emotionless, as he leaned over and had a brief discussion with Paul. After exchanging a few words, Paul handed his car keys over, and Chris relinquished them and tugged on Stephanie's hand to jolt her back to reality as he led her through the crowd of swarming bodies. The air was thick and hot, as it often got when an entire army of people were packed into such close quarters, and when they made it off the dance floor, Chris noticed a small, lit hallway leading to the club's restrooms. When he turned back to check on Stephanie, she still clutched the mass of dry clothing Trish handed off to her earlier, so he led her to the start of the hallway and pointed.

"There are the restrooms, go get changed."

"Chris, I didn't mean to do—"

"Shh," he shushed her softly and swooped in to kiss her cheek. "It's okay, Steph...I mean, it's not _entirely_ okay, but we have time to sort this out. Just go get changed and we'll talk in the car."

"Okay," she nodded multiple times but never made a move to actually leave him, too fearful to let go of his hand.

She feared he might vanish if she turned away for too long, and with as many people as she managed to push away in her short lifetime, Chris wasn't someone she was willing to toss aside. He urged her forward with an encouraging nod of his head, and that effectively snapped her out of the trance she was in. She released his hand and spun around, giving Chris his first real glimpse of the aftermath of the contest. Her shirt was soaked and clung to her body closely enough that he could easily conclude she wasn't wearing a bra, and he spotted the outline of her panties, but it was clear they didn't cover much skin.

She was about as close to disrobed as a person could be without actually going fully nude, and he shook his head as she pattered away from him and disappeared behind the door of the women's restroom. The problem with Stephanie was that she was too damn lovable. Even when she fired him up enough that he wanted to stand two inches from her face and give her a real piece of his mind, Chris couldn't find it in himself to do so because, more than anything, she needed guidance. If he raised his voice, it would only make her shrivel up even more inside the hardened shell she had built around herself for protection, and yelling wasn't exactly Chris's style anyway.

If he sat her down and spoke calmly, making sure to let her know how the events of that evening had hurt not only her, but him as well, she would grasp onto the error of her ways and possibly take measures to change her actions. He briefly wondered if Vince had ever gotten through to her when he tried to call, but figured he hadn't, because Stephanie had probably been too busy preparing herself to show her body for all to see. He cringed and mumbled to himself when the thought back to the sight of her. Stephanie was a beautiful woman who had it all, and Chris would never understand why she continuously threw all that away and sold herself short for a cheap thrill.

Chris waited with his back against the wall and closed his eyes, not bothering to reopen them until he made out the low squeal of the door hinges on the women's restroom, indicating someone was exiting. He glanced over to find a bashful Stephanie back in her street clothes and with nothing else in her hands. "What happened to that wet shirt?"

"I threw it in the trash," she announced.

"You don't want to keep it as a souvenir?"

"No," she answered softly, staring straight down at the floor.

"Well, first things first," Chris said as he shuffled towards her. Stephanie raised her head with a start, and her eyes flashed with uncertainty the closer he grew. She expected the worst and was imagining all the horrible routes he might take to sever ties with her in perpetuity, but, instead, he snaked his arms around her waist and pulled her close, nearly hugging the breath right out of her fragile body. When Stephanie unwound in his arms and laid her forehead down on his shoulder, he hunched over and murmured in her ear, "Tomorrow's a new day, and there's always room to do better. You're not stuck just because of one bad night, babe."

"You called me babe," she mumbled against his shirt.

"That's because you _are_ my babe."

"So you're not breaking up with me?" Stephanie pulled away just enough to look him in the eye and was met with an astonished expression from Chris.

"Why would I break up with you?"

"Because of tonight," she frowned, as if it should have been most obvious to him. Chris cupped her left cheek with his right hand and swished his thumb over the top of it.

"What you did wasn't detrimental to our relationship. I would prefer you didn't do it again, but it's not something we can't work out. There's not a single thing in this world that could take me away from you," Chris told her, guiding their bodies closer to the wall when a heavily-tattooed young man walked up behind them and darted around so he could get to the restrooms. "Come outside with me so we can sit in the car and have some privacy while we talk."

"Okay," Stephanie agreed.

Chris led her away, casting a final glance at the thumping dance floor, flooded with wriggling bodies lit only by the neon lights running across them overhead. He took notice that Stephanie didn't bother looking back, probably because she didn't want to be reminded of what had taken place earlier, and Chris wrapped his arm around her more snugly to shield her from the pain of it all. He gave the car keys a few light tosses in his hand as they stepped out of the club's front doors and into the chilled night air, and when they arrived at the car, Chris opened the back door so they could sit right beside one another in the backseat. He motioned Stephanie in first, and she paused to kiss his cheek before climbing inside.

A smile played on his lips as he slipped in next to her, and Chris shut the door and reached for her hand, holding it protectively inside his own. Stephanie gazed out the opposite window, so he took the initiative to begin their discussion. "You know, a wet t-shirt contest isn't the worst thing in the world, but it's not exactly something you should strive to be in. Can you tell me why you did it?"

"No," she mumbled.

"You have to talk to me if we're ever gonna get anywhere with each other. There must have been some sort of payoff for you if you entered, so what was it? Did you want guys whistling at you like at Mardi Gras?"

"I told you—I just like the attention."

"I understand that part of it, but you've got _me_ now," Chris pointed out as she turned to face him. "You were in my locker room right before you left the arena to come to this place, so if you were after attention, you could have easily told me. How hard would it have been for you to let me know you needed my undivided attention? I would have given it to you in a heartbeat."

"You were about to go out for your match though, and I didn't want to interrupt you. You were, like, jogging and doing all your warm-up stuff and throwing practice punches into the air, and I couldn't just barge in and ask you to sit with me."

Chris sighed and ran a hand over the top of his hair, "I get what you're saying, but you could have told me you needed to talk as soon as I finished my match, and I would have been up for it. Why couldn't you have stayed in the back, waited for me to come back, and then talked to me? Why do you always insist on showing your breasts as a form of enjoyment for anybody willing to watch?"

"I needed someone," she shrugged.

"No, Steph, that's a cop-out. You could have gone to sit with Vince and Shane or, hell, you could have went to Trish and Amy and told them you needed to talk. They would have gladly kept you company until I made it to the back and was able to be there for you," Chris said. "I know how much it hurts to feel alone, but you can't keep making excuses for this crazy stuff you do. What I watched you do tonight was...you're just _so_ much better than that."

"If I was better, I wouldn't have done it."

"You're looking at this all wrong."

"I don't always need support, but whenever I do, it comes on quickly, and I have to respond to it right then or else it eats away at me," Stephanie responded.

Her admittance was the most open she had been with Chris in a long time about her feelings, and he was glad she was growing comfortable enough to open up to him in that way. Stephanie had been hurt for a long time, and the great majority of her pain would have been preventable had someone taken the time to sit her down and get inside her head. That wasn't to say he blamed her parents or Shane, but Chris wished someone would have put in the effort to get her talking. It was the only way she would ever have a fighting chance at the life she dreamed of living.

"I'm only trying to make you see there are other ways of getting the attention you need when you feel that urge. Instead of saying, 'Hey, why don't I go flash my breasts to a bunch of strangers?', why don't you start saying, 'I'm going to do something great at work today to impress everyone'?" Chris countered. "If you want to be recognized, you have to command that. You can do it with a bunch of negative crap, but wouldn't you rather do positive stuff to be noticed for?"

"Yeah."

"Then why don't you?"

"It's hard," Stephanie admitted, leaning forward and resting her forehead against his shoulder for the second time that night. Chris reached up and raked his fingers lightly over her scalp, repeating the action as a soothing mechanism. He cleared his throat as he mulled over what to say next. Chris had a clear opinion on the matter, but he felt he had to come up with a way to voice his thoughts to Stephanie that wouldn't make her feel bad about herself or get the urge to rebel and do the opposite of what he suggested.

"I know this isn't easy, but you've gotta start at least _trying_ to do better."

"I have been!" she exclaimed defensively as her head shot up from his shoulder. "I try all the time, and everyone is always telling me I'm not good enough."

"You're good enough to me, and that's why I want better for you," Chris replied. "When you were asleep this morning, right before Trish called and invited us to breakfast, I whispered some stuff to you. I knew you needed to hear it when you were awake, but I said it while you slept because I just felt the urge to say it out loud."

"What did you say?"

"I told you I didn't want to change you, but that I hoped you would start treating yourself better. I still stand by those words."

"Nobody understands exactly how I feel though—not even you."

"Then tell me."

"I can't," she shook her head. "There's stuff that happened in my life that you weren't there for, and I can't make you understand just by talking about it. You would have had to be there to get it. I'm still really mad about a lot of stuff with my parents, and some days it gets to me more than others. If I think about it and get upset, my only release is to do something that makes me feel better right away, even if it's not really good for me."

"You want instant gratification, but I've already told you there are more positive ways of getting that."

"I don't want to talk about this anymore," Stephanie crossed her arms. Not wanting to push the subject, Chris gave into her reluctance and ceased his line of questioning.

"That's fine, we don't have to talk about it right now, but I hope we can revisit this in a day or two. I want to help, but you have to let me in so I can do that."

"It's so scary opening up, Chris. I don't normally trust people, and I know I can be honest with you, but it's like...I guess I'm not ready to talk about everything."

"You don't have to be ready right this second. Just know that you're really important to me, and I'm always rooting for you no matter what," he replied before grabbing her chin with his hand and tilting her face so she was looking at him. He ran his thumb over her lips gingerly and added, "Also, these lips are _mine_ to kiss, okay? I don't like seeing other people making out with you, even when it's just an innocent girl-kiss."

"I didn't know she was gonna do that," Stephanie's eyes widened. "She just grabbed me before I could get out of it."

"It's okay, I'm not mad. I just want to make it known that the only mouth that belongs _here_," he pressed his index finger against the center of her lips, "is mine."

With that, Chris pulled Stephanie towards himself and brought his lips down gently on top of hers. She moaned her consent and placed her exploratory hands on his arms, squeezing his biceps as she leaned forward to deepen the kiss. Chris cupped her cheeks and tilted her head, guiding it slightly diagonal as he slipped his tongue inside her parted lips and flicked it coyly against hers. When Chris tugged Stephanie forward, she climbed the short distance onto his lap, her breathing rising rapidly as their mouths mingled together a short while longer before they each pulled away.

"Now didn't that feel good?" Chris smirked.

"Yeah, it really did."

"I thought so too. We should do that a lot more often," he grinned, awarding her a final, soft peck before lifting up in his seat and sliding his cell phone out of his front pocket. "Your dad needs to talk to you, Steph. Did he call you earlier tonight?"

"Um...yeah," she hesitated.

"And did you guys talk?"

"I didn't answer."

"Oh, why not?" Chris asked. His question was innocent enough, but an expression of guilt spread across Stephanie face with all the rapidity of a raging wildfire. "Uh oh, what's that look for?"

"I saw that he was calling, but I was getting ready for that contest, so I didn't answer."

"That's okay. I was thinking I could bring you over so he could talk to you face-to-face, because we need to tell him we're together anyway. You want to head over there with me?"

"Yeah, but everyone else might not be ready to go," she pointed out.

"It's okay. We'll go in and ask, and if they're not ready, we'll call a cab so we can get to the hotel. No big deal."

"I want to go then."

"All right, well let's start by going inside and finding everyone. I've gotta give Paul the keys to this car, and we'll go from there," Chris directed. He reached for the door so they could let themselves out before he thought better of it and placed his hands on Stephanie's hips. "Is there anything else you wanted to talk about, or are we all good here?"

"We're good. Besides, I get to share a hotel room with you all the time now that we're dating, so we'll be able to talk whenever we want. I love being with you."

Chris patted her cheek adoringly and left her with a final response before they exited the car, "I love being with you too—wouldn't trade it for the world."


	8. Growing Pains, Relationship Gains

Stephanie rocked on her heels and exhaled a puff of air through pursed lips while Chris paid their cab driver. Trish, Amy, and Matt stayed behind at the club to have drinks, and Paul remained there by default, since he was going to act as their designated driver for the evening. Stephanie was grateful to have made an early escape from the club, because now that all was said and done, her actions earlier that night made her sick, and she thanked her lucky stars she was dating someone as overwhelmingly understanding as Chris. The night could have taken a very dark turn, but it hadn't because of his compassion, and she was forever indebted to him for that.

He was the only person who overlooked her faults enough to see beyond the superficial and realize she was a normal person at heart. Though she was uncertain how she would pass through such a trying time in her life, something told her she would make it to the other side with Chris's support. When he shut the cab door and whirled around, Stephanie smiled and got a head start walking towards the set of hotel doors, that was, until Chris came up behind her and grabbed her around the waist. She squealed loudly and tugged away from him when he began nibbling on the side of her neck, breaking away long enough to run through the automatic doors and into the hotel lobby.

She slowed once inside - - so as not to look odd to the few people meandering near the front desk - - and after reaching the elevator, Stephanie stepped inside and pressed the floor number her parents were staying on. Chris joined her but fled to the far corner of the elevator, not saying a word. She frowned, thinking he might have gotten angry with her for pulling away from him, and she opened her mouth to apologize just as the elevator doors were closing but never got a chance to speak the words. As soon as they were fully shut, Chris lunged, evoking another panicked scream out of her before she collapsed in a fit of giggles against his firm body while he tickled her sides relentlessly.

"Stop—stop it!" Stephanie doubled over laughing and attempted to push his intruding hands away, but Chris wasn't letting up. The elevator doors opened when they reached the designated floor and she swatted at him again, "Quit it, Chris!"

An older couple waiting to get onto the elevator caught sight of their shenanigans and smiled in amusement, reminded of days gone by when they were that young and playful with each other. Chris and Stephanie each returned their polite smiles as they slipped off the elevator and crept down the hallway. When they reached Vince and Linda's room, Stephanie stopped in front of it and knocked on the door. She turned back to see what Chris was doing and he winked at her just before they were met with Vince's commanding presence as the door swung open.

"Hi, Dad," Stephanie greeted. She tried to walk past him and into the room, but he stopped her halfway through the door and pulled her into a hug.

"Where were you, and why didn't you answer your phone? I've been trying to call you all night," Vince admitted.

"I'm sorry," she replied. "I was out with Trish and Amy at a club, and I lost track of time. What were you calling to talk about?"

Vince pulled away and guided Stephanie the remainder of the way inside before motioning for Chris to follow. After Vince closed the door, he replied, "Stephanie, I need you to come to the other side of the room with me for a moment. I've got some things to tell you."

"Like what?" she asked warily.

Vince held his hand out, and she grabbed onto it. "Come on, you'll find out."

Stephanie allowed him to pull her away and sent an apologetic look to Chris, "I'm sorry, this should only take a second. Have a seat and get comfortable."

"You can watch TV, order up room service, anything you like," Vince called after her, and Chris thanked them both for their hospitality.

Not a soul was in sight besides the three of them, and Chris briefly wondered where Linda was before he took a seat on the sofa to rest. His heart wasn't into watching anything on television, but he didn't want it to appear he was eavesdropping, so Chris flipped through the channels and pretended to be in search of a program. When he chanced a peek across the room, Vince had his hands resting on each of Stephanie's shoulders while he leaned in to speak quietly, and she nodded along with his words and was answering him, though Chris couldn't make out their actual exchange. He was glad they were getting a chance to talk, because Stephanie needed Vince to act as a strong male figure in her life.

Chris hoped for her to grow closer to her family, friends, and of course, himself. The stronger her support system, the less likely she would feel the need to act out, and Stephanie could finally start moving into the adult phase of her life. She was an adult in age but still had a ways to go emotionally, and that was part of the reason Chris was so insistent on helping her through the trouble she ran into. If there was anyone who could convince her to be the best version of herself possible, it would be Chris, because he knew her better than just about anyone.

Vince pulled Stephanie into a hug a few minutes later, and Chris couldn't help but glance over after detecting movement from the corner of his eye. He was surprised to find Stephanie watching him closely as she held onto Vince, and he offered a smile, but her face remained impassive. He didn't think much of it and assumed she was stressed out by all the talks everyone wanted to have with her, so Chris made a mental note to let her relax for the rest of the night. He figured a lazy night in with a good dinner and movie would be ideal. As soon as they discussed their new relationship with Vince, Chris could put his plan into action for their first evening together as a couple.

When they pulled apart, Vince kissed Stephanie's forehead and led her back across the room, where Chris remained waiting on the couch. He reached out for Stephanie's hand to greet her, "Welcome back."

Stephanie remained standing and ignored his gesture, peering around the room before asking Vince, "Where's Mom?"

"She went downstairs with Shane. She was sick of being holed up in here while I worked, so he offered to have some coffee with her."

"Oh," Stephanie nodded. "Well, I guess I'll see you later, Dad."

"Are you flying home with us later tonight?" Vince wondered.

"Yeah, I see no reason why not," she said, all the while, leaving Chris baffled as to what was going on. He had already discussed having Stephanie spend the weekend with him in Tampa, and she had been receptive to the idea up until that point. He didn't mind if she decided not to go through with it, but it would have been common courtesy for her to let him know that ahead of time so he hadn't gotten his hopes up thinking they were spending the weekend together.

"But, Steph, I assumed we were—"

"There's danger in assumptions," she shot back at Chris, cutting her eyes at him before turning around and headed towards the door. Vince sensed the tension straight away and glanced at Chris, mouthing to him, '_What's going on with you guys?_'. Chris shrugged, which was a truthful answer since he had no clue what had crawled up Stephanie's backside in the five minutes between them entering the room and the current point. He couldn't let her leave alone, and he wasn't sure where she was actually going, but Chris stood from the couch and gave Vince a parting clap on the shoulder before following Stephanie out of the room and jogging down the hallway to catch up to her.

"Steph, what are you doing? We were supposed to be telling your dad about us," Chris said before it all clicked. "Oh, are you going to get your mom so we can tell them both together?" he asked. When he got no answer, Chris latched onto Stephanie's arms and whirled her around. She recrossed them rather huffily and stared at a point just beyond his head. "What's the matter with you?"

"Is there anyone I can actually trust, or do I need to just stop talking to people altogether?"

"What do you mean?"

"You think I didn't notice what just happened?" Stephanie asked, and now she was brave enough to make direct eye contact with him as she spoke. "My dad comes to me out of nowhere just to tell me how much he loves me, and you think I haven't put together why he would do that? I know you told him what we talked about at dinner the other night, and if that's how it's going to be, then I just won't tell you things anymore."

"I was wrong, I'll admit that, and I didn't tell him anything else you said, but I was worried for you. I didn't want you thinking nobody cared, so I told him what you said about not feeling loved," Chris explained. Vince may not have mentioned him by name, but it was then Chris realized he should have been aware enough to know Stephanie would put it all together. "I'm really sorry for what I did."

"God, Chris, don't you see what a mess I am?" she tossed her hands in the air, eyes tearing up. "I want to be able to trust you, but I can't if I have to worry that you're running every little thing I say back to my parents. I told you that stuff in confidence because I was ready for _you_ to know. If I had wanted my mom and dad to know, I would have told them myself. I know you only wanted to help, but I wish you would respect me and not blurt my secrets out to people who don't need to know them."

"But Vince said he loved you, right? Doesn't it make you feel better to know that?"

"You're completely missing the point."

"No, I got the point, but I'm trying to show you what came out of this wasn't all bad," Chris said. He reached out to her, but Stephanie made no effort to step within his grasp. "We're way too early into our relationship to be getting mad at each other all the time. I don't want us to argue every single damn day about stuff now that we're together. We're supposed to be enjoying each other's company."

"Then stop going behind my back. It's like, I wanted to go back to your hotel room tonight and talk to you about stuff, but now I don't even know if I can do it without being scared you'll go back to my dad and tell him everything," Stephanie admitted, her face contorting in a show of pain that was almost enough to rip Chris's heart clear out from his chest. He didn't mess up often, but when he did, it was huge. "I don't want us to date each other if you're only doing this to spy on me for my dad. That's not what I thought our relationship was going to be."

"That's _not _why I asked you out," Chris shook his head. "I wanted to date you because I love being with you and we make each other happy. It has nothing to do with Vince or anyone else in your family. I've never told your secrets before, and I never will again, not when I know it hurts you this much. I was doing it from a good place, but I see where I went wrong now, and I hope you'll forgive me."

"It just hurts that you would do that. I thought you were different, Chris."

"I _am_ different, babe."

"No, you're acting just like everyone else. This is what everyone has done to me my entire life," Stephanie spoke through a trembling voice as her eyes glazed over, and Chris couldn't stand by and watch it any longer. He stepped forward and took her in his arms, swaying lightly as she hooked her arms around his waist and held on tightly. "I don't want to be mad at you, especially when you were so forgiving of me earlier, but I'm so upset. Why couldn't you leave it alone?"

"I'm so sorry, Steph. If I had it to do all over again, I would just keep my big mouth shut and not tell Vince anything. I feel like shit, and I guess I should, since this is all my fault in the first place. I can understand if you're mad at me, but please don't stay mad for long, because I won't be able to have a good weekend unless you spend it in Florida with me. I want you at my house," he pleaded, rubbing up and down her back.

"Chris?" she mumbled against his shirt.

"Yeah?"

"Do you love me?" Stephanie quizzed, pulling away to search his eyes for any sign of truth.

"I don't want you to be hurt by what I say, because it's not meant in a bad way..."

"I won't be hurt. I just want your honest answer."

"Okay then," he paused and took a deep breath before carrying on, "I do love you, but right now it feels like the type of love you share with a really close friend. I don't think I'm in love yet, because I haven't gotten the chance to make it that far, but I have no doubts we can get there after we've been together for a while."

"But, like, if something bad happened to me, you would be upset?"

"Oh, Steph, come on," Chris chuckled humorlessly as he shook his head at her question. "You shouldn't even have to ask something like that. I wouldn't be able to function if anything bad happened to you. I would sit around doing nothing all day except feeling lost. I _do_ love you, okay? It's just a different kind of love right now, but that doesn't mean it can't grow to be something a lot more serious in the future."

"I'm glad you feel that way, but if you really do, then you should care enough to keep my secrets when I confide in you."

"I do care enough, and I'll do better from now on if you give me another chance. I don't want to lose you before I even really get the chance to have you," he admitted. Stephanie smiled at his words and took them as a sign he was ready to move forward with her. She didn't need Chris to jump through hoops to make up for his mistake when he hadn't made her resort to that for _her_ blunders, so they were even for the time being.

"I don't want to lose you either," she grinned, pinching his cheeks, which made him laugh and tap her hand away. Stephanie glanced behind herself and back at Chris, "Should we go back and tell my dad we're together?"

"I'd love to if you're still ready, or we can wait until he's with Linda and tell them together."

"When would we do that if I'm spending this weekend with you?"

"We'll do it at Raw next week," Chris decided. "You need to go back right now and tell your dad you're coming with me though, because you just told him you were going home with him tonight. Do you want to do that now or just call and tell him after we get settled in our room?"

"We'll call him later. The jet doesn't usually take off until closer to midnight, so we've got some time to kill."

"That works for me."

The trip to Chris's hotel room a couple floors up - - which should have taken no longer than five minutes - - turned into an impromptu outing after Stephanie suggested they take a late-night stroll. Since the weather outside was generally nice, save for being a tad bit on the cool side, they each went prepared and brought sweaters. Stephanie slipped her hand inside Chris's, and he led her down the sidewalk, the open path lit by the pale moonlight. The rush of cars speeding by them sent a cold chill over their bodies each time, and Stephanie found herself shivering at the almost continuous gusts of air.

"Chris, can we go inside that diner down there?" she pointed several yards ahead at the lit-up building. "I'm a little cold, and I just want to get a coffee or something."

"You're thinking along the same lines as me. We'll stop when we get down there."

Stephanie stole a few fascinated glances at the twinkling sky - - brimming to the max with constellations - - and turned to Chris, "Doesn't it feel like so long ago we were at the show? It was only like a few hours ago, but, I don't know, it feels like so much time has passed. This night just dragged on and on."

"It is dragging, but you should be happy about that, because at least we're together while it lags."

"True, I should have thought of that," she laughed, and the sound was so sweet to Chris's ears. More than seeing Stephanie happy, he loved being the one responsible for evoking that emotion in her, and he felt what they shared was quite promising. They were passionate people who would have their occasional tiffs, but they would never be blind to the reasons they belonged together. Stephanie just so happened to scan the sky at the right moment and caught a flash of light moving in a straight line, which she recognized immediately as a shooting star. "Chris!" she exclaimed, pointing upward and in the direction of the moving star.

"What?" he asked in a panic, searching all around them to find out if she saw something or someone.

"Look, it's a shooting star! Quick, make a wish!" she urged, patting Chris's arm with her free hand. "Hurry!"

"Nah, I don't need to," he shook his head. "You already came true."

"Don't be trite, just make a wish."

Chris guffawed and squeezed her hand playfully, "So I say something sweet to you and get insulted for it?"

He awaited an answer, but when he didn't receive one, he glanced over to find Stephanie walking with her eyes closed. She remained that way for several more seconds, allowing herself to be led by Chris in silence. When she opened her eyes again, she replied, "You were taking too long, so I wished for something instead."

"What did you ask for?"

"I can't tell you or it won't come true, but it's something for both of us. You'll see what it was someday, because wishes pretty much always come true," Stephanie said. The diner was growing closer with each passing second of their walk, and Chris could feel his stomach rumbling. It was only then he realized they hadn't gotten a meal after the show, so he planned to make sure he and Stephanie got a hearty dinner when they entered the restaurant. "One time when I was 11, I wished for a trip to Ireland since we're Irish, and I felt like I should visit the place. No joke, like six months later, my parents surprised me with plane tickets and told me we were going on a vacation to Ireland as a family."

"That's pretty incredible, but it could have been coincidence."

"It could have, but I like to think it was my wish," Stephanie replied. "There was also that time I made a wish to have New Kids on the Block perform at my birthday party when I was turning 16, and they actually did it. My dad got them for me, and it was so cool. All my friends were jealous my family had the kind of pull to make that stuff happen, but I wished for it and knew it would come back to me."

Chris couldn't deny the joy in her voice as she reminisced on her good memories, and he couldn't have been more thrilled she had those types of experiences to look back on. "I'm glad those things happened to you. You deserve the best in life, and you know what?"

"What?" she asked as they crossed the diner parking lot and walked towards the entrance.

"I hope I make you happy and give you those types of memories to carry for the rest of your life."

"I know you will, I have no doubts."

"Good. Let's go have some dinner, and we'll figure out what to do with the rest of our night."

"As long as it's not another wet t-shirt contest, I'm in."

"Don't worry," Chris chuckled, holding the diner door open for her, "it'll be anything but."


	9. So Happy Together

The straddling of his lap was what tugged Chris from sleep to begin with, which was quickly followed by a head coming to rest in the center of his chest. He broke out in a sleepy grin, not bothering to open his eyes, and tilted his head just enough to press a kiss to the top of Stephanie's. He reached both hands up and began running them in small circles over her back, loving the warmth and security that accompanied holding her in his arms. Chris would have found it perfectly satisfying to wake up to Stephanie every single morning, especially if it meant he would feel as alive as he did right then.

For once, it felt nice to wake up in the comfort of his own home, rather than another one of the countless hotel rooms he spent his nights in. Being on the road for so many days out of the year was trying at times, bordering on the impossible every once in a while, but the love of what he did for a living drove him to press forward. His memory briefly flashed to the night before, to what he had done with Stephanie after enjoying a late dinner at the diner. They had made the joint decision to catch her parents before they left on the private jet and tell them about their relationship, which had gone predictably quite well.

"Good morning, princess," Chris mumbled through his smile, catching a whiff of what smelled like pancake syrup.

"Good morning, prince," she returned.

"What are you doing up so early?"

"I made breakfast."

"You did not."

"I did too."

"You told me you don't cook."

"I normally don't, but for you, I make exceptions," Stephanie announced. When he felt the shift of her head rising from his body, Chris opened his eyes to find her gazing down at him with a joyous smile. She appeared happier than he had seen her in a long time, her ash blue eyes shining brightly and with all the glee of a child rushing downstairs on Christmas morning. She wiggled her eyebrows playfully, "I made yummy pancakes and bacon. There's sausage too, because I wasn't sure which one you would be more in the mood for."

Sure enough, Chris glanced over and found one of his wooden breakfast trays awaiting him, with a hot plate of food resting right in the center. He frowned when he found only one plate and remarked, "What about you? Where's your plate?"

"I'm not much of an eater in the mornings, so I only made enough for you."

"How did you find everything downstairs?"

"It took me a while to find some stuff, but I just kept searching your kitchen until I came across it. I did all the dishes too, so you don't have to worry about finding a mess when you go down there."

"You didn't have to do that, baby," Chris cupped her cheek, touched that she would go to such lengths for him so early on. While receiving breakfast in bed may not have sounded like much to the average person, Chris knew Stephanie well enough to be aware she didn't do those types of things for anybody. When she put forth that amount of effort, it meant she truly cared about what she was doing, and it was difficult for him to pull that type of dedication out of her very often, so whenever it shined through, Chris appreciated it beyond words. Tucking some hair sweetly behind her ear, he continued, "This means a lot, and it isn't going unnoticed. It was such a sweet thing for you to do, but I should have expected it. You're always sugar sweet to me."

"Oh, it's nothing," Stephanie waved him off with what appeared to be a slightly bashful smile. She was a unique kind of woman in that, she adored compliments, but wasn't always the greatest at accepting them. It was a skill she hoped to learn and fine-tune as she gained life experiences. "I just figured you're my boyfriend now, so I could at least start doing nice stuff for you and stop embarrassing you with the crap I normally do."

"You don't embarrass me one bit, not at all," Chris corrected, running his fingertips in a swirling motion over her cheeks. "I've never been embarrassed by you, Steph."

"You haven't?"

"Not at all. When I try to correct you, it's not because I'm embarrassed by anything. It's just that I want what's best for you, and I know you deserve better than some of the things you subject yourself too. That's why I try to step in and help you change directions."

"I thought you felt like I was bringing negative attention to you, like last night."

"I don't care about other people or what they think, I only care about you," Chris said. "When I walked into the club and saw you last night, not once did I ever question what anybody else thought about it. My primary concern was getting you out of there because I felt like you were selling yourself short. There's no reason you need to be showing off your breasts or making out with random women, because you're better and smarter than that. I just wish you could see yourself the way I see you and realize how much potential you've got and how successful you could be if you would focus more on work."

"I try to do good things at work, but I'm not smart like Shane."

"What does that mean?"

"I just mean he started working for my dad before he even finished high school, and everything came easy to him right away," she explained while Chris nodded along. "With me, it wasn't like that. I even overheard my dad talking to my mom one time. He didn't know I was anywhere nearby, but he was telling her Shane picked everything up right away and that he didn't think I was ever going to get a real grasp on it. I'm always compared to Shane, and he's always better than me at everything, so why should I even bother?"

"I'm sorry you had to hear that, Steph, but I know Vince wouldn't ever purposely try to hurt you. Maybe he only meant to say he could tell you were having trouble, but that doesn't mean you can't ever get to a point where you're good at it," Chris told her. He ran his hand in a continuous, gentle motion over the top of her head, smoothing her tresses down, and Stephanie leaned eagerly into his touch. "You're giving up on yourself because of a single comment, and that's not the way it should be. I wouldn't be where I am today if I gave up the first time someone doubted my ability to make it as a wrestler, and you should use that as a lesson."

"I could be trying my hardest, but I don't want to if my own dad's gonna go talk trash about me behind my back. He has no idea how bad that made me feel," Stephanie said, eyes brimming with hurt. "You're the only one who makes me feel like I can do whatever I want. Nobody else ever encourages me."

"Then we're going to put a stop to that. I'll have a talk with Vince myself, and I won't mention that we talked about this together. I'll just make it a general conversation and explain to him that I think you're feeling a lack of support. I'm sure he'd turn himself right around if I told him that."

"Your food is getting cold," Stephanie pointed out.

She rose off of Chris, and his hand dropped with a dull thud at his side in the sudden absence of her body. He used his palms to boost himself to a sitting position in bed as Stephanie grabbed the tray and stood it up on its sturdy legs so that it was positioned directly over Chris's lap. He could tell whenever Stephanie checked out of a conversation, because she would find a way to detract the attention from herself and place it on something of much less importance, which, in this case, was breakfast. Chris didn't care about eating nearly as much as he valued Stephanie's well-being, but she was sending off vibes that she wanted the subject to be changed, so he was going to respect her wishes.

"This looks great. Come sit next to me and I'll share," Chris said. Stephanie obliged and scooted in next to him, her left side pressed against his right. Chris picked up the syrup dispenser and poured a generous amount over his pancakes before cutting a small piece off with his fork and raising it to her lips. He cupped his other hand underneath so none of the syrup would spill onto the sheets, and Stephanie leaned forward and accepted a taste of her own cooking. "How did you do?"

"I did awesome. I guess making pancakes is _one_ thing I'm good at."

"You're good at lots of things. You just have to find your niche, that's all."

"You always believe in me no matter what," she noted before following that up with, "Why?"

Chris took a bite of his pancakes and sighed his delight at the impeccable taste before holding a crisp piece of bacon up for Stephanie to try. She shook her head and scrunched her nose, so he took a bite instead and placed it back down on his plate. "I know you can do anything you want to—that's why. There's no reason you can't. You're smart, goal-oriented, and I think you're driven when you want to be. If you put in the effort and time, you could do great things."

"What if I don't want to work in the wrestling business? Everyone assumes I'm cut out for it because I'm a McMahon, but maybe I'm not."

"Then do whatever makes you happy."

"Like what?"

He chuckled and shook his head, "I don't exactly know. That would be something you would have to figure out on your own. I can guide you, but I can't make your choices."

"I bet my parents think you can, because they pretty much believe you're capable of anything," she said, her mood taking a turn for the better as her eyes lit up with amusement. "Did you see their faces last night when they found out we were together? Shane seemed a little weird about it, but my parents were, like, _thrilled_ you're dating me."

"Their reactions were pretty funny," he laughed.

"_Is that your stomach I hear?" Chris asked._

_He was seated next to Stephanie in the hotel lobby, after having returned from their walk. They decided to wait around in the soft cushion chairs, because Vince, Linda, and Shane were set to return home soon on their private jet, and Chris and Stephanie wanted to catch them before they left the hotel. Since Stephanie decided to spend the weekend with Chris, she wanted to notify them of that, as well as explain why she would be with him for the next few days. Vince's reaction would be rather predictable, but the other two were a wild card, as far as Stephanie was concerned. _

"_Yeah, it's grumbling. I think I ate too much or too quickly."_

"_That's probably my fault for waiting so late to take you to dinner. We should have gone right after we left the club," Chris said. He slipped his hand over her stomach so that it rested on top of her blouse, and he began rubbing it gently to soothe her. Stephanie gazed at him in adoration, and he leaned in to press a gentle kiss to her lips before continuing the motion. They remained that way for the next few minutes, until the elevator doors across from where they were sitting opened, and out stepped the trio they had been waiting on. _

"_There they are. Should we walk over there or wait until they see us?" Stephanie quizzed. _

"_I think we've already been spotted," Chris noted, as Vince's eyes seemed to hone in on them. Grabbing Stephanie's hand, Chris rose from his seat and lead her along, where they came to an abrupt stop in front of Vince, Shane, and Linda. "Hi, nice to see you all again," Chris greeted, before shaking each of their hands. _

"_I know you called to say you didn't want to come home with us, but are you sure?" Vince asked Stephanie, after saying hello to Chris. "Where are you spending the weekend if not at home?"_

"_Well..." Stephanie paused and raised her and Chris's joined hands, smiling brightly as she glanced between her parents, "I was planning on spending my first weekend with Chris, since we're a couple now."_

"_You're a couple?" Vince asked, a brilliant smile forming on his face as he laughed and clapped Chris on the shoulder. "Are you really?" he asked once more._

"_We are," Chris answered. "I tried to keep my distance, but you've got quite an irresistible daughter."_

"_I think you're both adorable and so good for each other," Linda cut in before stepping forward to hug Stephanie. After they pulled away from their embrace, Linda pressed a kiss to her forehead before hugging Chris as well. Shane remained in stunned silence while their parents spoke animatedly with Chris, and Stephanie tipped her head and sent him a silly grin. _

"_What's wrong, Shaner?" she wondered. _

"_Nothing, it's nothing," he leaned in to hug her, but Stephanie felt something was off with him. It could have been the normal concern an older brother had for his sister whenever she dated a new guy, so Stephanie brushed it off and chose not to think much of it. Shane was probably only zoning out because he was in his slightly overprotective state of mind. She tuned back into the conversation just in time to hear Vince starting in on giving Chris what she had deemed "the boyfriend speech"._

"_You be good to my little girl," Vince told him. "I don't doubt you, but I have to say this, because the father in me won't allow me not to."_

"_Okay," Chris nodded. _

"_You hurt my little girl or any of my family and it'll be the last thing you ever do," he spoke sternly. _

"_I believe you, but my goal isn't to hurt Stephanie or anyone else. I want her to be as happy as I know she deserves to be, and I'm behind her 100% in anything she wants to be or do. She knows that, I think," Chris turned to glance at her and Stephanie nodded her confirmation of his words. _

"_I do know that," she said before focusing her attention on Vince. "You don't have to tell Chris all that stuff, Dad. He always treats me well, and I know he'd never do anything to hurt me."_

"_I know, I just had to get that out," Vince chuckled. He shook Chris's hand once more and nodded at the two of them. "We've gotta get going, but have a good weekend, and call to check in with me or your mother, Stephanie. We want to hear how things are going."_

"_I will, I promise," she replied. Leaving each of her parents and Shane with a kiss on the cheek, they exited the hotel lobby, and she tugged Chris's hand and practically ran him straight to the elevators so they could get to their room. Stephanie didn't think the excitement she felt at the prospect of spending the night with Chris would ever evaporate and, for her sake, she hoped it wouldn't. _

_It felt too nice having something to look forward to. _

"Oh my gosh, Chris, make it stop!" Stephanie screeched as he walked behind her and tossed his head back, laughing at her misfortune.

After breakfast, Stephanie became a bit stir crazy and asked to get out of the house, so Chris offered to take her for a walk, without realizing just how windy it was outside. Of all days to wear a dress, Stephanie just so happened to choose that particular day, with a garment that only came a couple inches above her knees, and it was being blown every which way but down. She slapped Chris's arm the harder he laughed and grabbed onto her dress at the sides, bolting it down with both hands, though the front and back edges still fluttered in the breeze. She turned on her heel and stalked back towards the house, so Chris spun around and followed.

"You can't be mad at me," he called after her.

"I'm not—I'm mad at the wind!" she responded. Chris caught up to her and slipped his hand onto the small of her back as they trudged back up his driveway. They hadn't gotten far from the house before the draft took Stephanie's dress away with it, so luckily there wasn't much walking to do before she was home free. "Stupid, stupid weather!" she growled.

"I'm sorry," he laughed, "but you've gotta get used to it, because this is Florida for you. You never know what you'll get in this place. Just be thankful it's not a bunch of thunder and lightning."

"You're supposed to protect me, honey."

"From what? I can't control the wind," he teased, pulling the house key from his pocket to unlock the front door.

As he fidgeted with the lock, Stephanie crossed her arms and pouted as she abandoned the harsh grip on her clothing, causing the dress to fly up around her waist and expose her underwear and part of her lower abdomen. When Chris pushed the front door open and glanced back, his eyes were immediately drawn to Stephanie's frilly purple panties, and he rolled his eyes playfully at her show of indignation against the flawed weather. Luckily, they were on his doorstep, where the neighbors couldn't likely see the debacle on full display, and if they could, they didn't have a great view of it. Chris took hold of her dress and pulled it back down, kissing her cheek as he led her inside the house.

He closed the front door behind them and called after Stephanie, "Go get changed, and I'll take you out somewhere. We don't have to go for another walk if you don't want to."

"Can we go shopping?" her voice hitched as she raised a hopeful eyebrow and awaited his response. Chris tossed his keys down on the coffee table and shrugged.

"I don't see why not. If that's what you want to do, we'll go."

"Oh my gosh, you're the best!" she squealed, clapping her hands as she ran back and launched herself into his arms. Chris laughed and patted her back as she added, "No guy ever wants to go shopping when I ask. My last boyfriend hated it, and I couldn't ever get him to go with me, but you're so sweet about it. You don't think you'll get bored?"

"I can't get bored as long as I'm with you. Now go put something on other than a dress or skirt, and meet me down here in ten minutes," Chris said. Stephanie bobbled excitedly in his arms before taking his face in her hands and bringing her lips down swiftly on top of his. When she pulled away and spun around to leave, Chris swatted her behind, and her mouth dropped open in mock horror before she jogged back up the stairs to the bedroom. He stood at the bottom and watched her go, enjoying the view. "You'll have to wear that dress again sometime when it's not so windy. It looks great on you."

"Don't worry, I will."

"And next time, don't wear any underwear with it."

"I won't," she called back, "but only if we're alone and indoors when I'm wearing it." She reached the top of the stairs and disappeared down the hallway. Chris dropped onto the couch and folded his arms behind his head as he smiled in satisfaction at the final comment Stephanie left him to absorb.

She was learning already.


	10. The Change We Seek

Stephanie was officially incognito.

Her first day spent with Chris had been a delight, but the nagging pressures in the back of her mind ceased to let up, so she had taken it upon herself to sneak out before Chris woke up that morning. He had already given her his blessing to drive any of his cars, if she felt so inclined to go anywhere, so she made a split-second decision to seek out a women's clinic in the general area. The goal was to have a pregnancy test done, though the lack of noticeable bodily changes made her doubt she was with child. She still wanted to play it safe and be certain, so she would request a test for that, as well as for any sexually transmitted infections.

Chris was none the wiser to what she was up to, and Stephanie aimed to keep it that way. Being a generally known public figure, she covered her head with a fedora-style cap and shielded her face with a large pair of black sunglasses in hopes she wouldn't draw attention to herself. She worried the look was overdone and would make people take even more notice of her than usual, but, fortunately, not many people happened to be inside the clinic anyway, since it was still early morning. She went to the front desk and was given a packet of papers to fill out, but brought them back up as quickly as possible after scribbling down vague answers.

She never understood why doctors saw fit to ask a plethora of personal questions on multiple sheets of paper, when they could just bring the patient back to the exam room and ask them there. It was akin to torture having to respond to such questions as how many sexual partners she'd had and what types of sex she had partaken in. That was the necessary evil of finding herself in situations like the current one, and she made a silent vow to never find herself in that place again. When she and Chris took the next step in their relationship and became physical, she was making damn sure they protected themselves.

As she sat alone, fiddling with her hands, Stephanie felt a shooting pang of regret that she hadn't clued Chris into the situation and asked him to accompany her. It wouldn't have been the greatest piece of information to disclose to her new boyfriend, but he had seen her in situations almost equally as bad, and he would have surely been supportive. It would have been nice to have him holding her hand and dropping sweet kisses onto her lips every so often while he assured her everything would be okay. He backed her more than anyone, and she should have trusted in that, but her doubts had gotten in the way.

Stephanie was called to the back, and she rose from her seat and started the treacherous walk to her doom, wondering all the while what lay ahead.

"Steph..." Chris moaned, reaching out in bed for her instinctively.

They had only been together a short time, but he already craved closeness whenever they slept. For Chris, sleeping was more than just getting rest and had become his special time to bond with Stephanie. His favorite thing to do was get her to turn her back to him so he could swoop in behind her and hold her around the waist. It allowed him to be hugged up with her, while at the same time feeling he was protecting her from any harm. Chris valued being the one to watch over her, and it was a job he didn't take lightly—not even for a second.

His hand plopped down in an empty, cold spot on the sheets next to him, and he groaned his displeasure, thinking Stephanie must have snuck downstairs to make him breakfast again. While it was a nice gesture, he wished she would learn to stay put for a while after waking up. They were on the go so often that Chris didn't see a point in rushing downstairs, when they could stay hugged up for as long as they wanted and take their time to begin the day. He made a mental note to mention it to her and see what she thought, but not before tossing the covers off his body and sitting up in bed.

He plopped his bare feet down on the floor and pushed off the bed, crossing his bedroom and slipping down the stairs. He was surprised to make it to the bottom and not have the aroma of a freshly cooked breakfast hitting his nostrils, nor did he hear any sounds to indicate she was in the downstairs area at all. He called out for her, "Stephanie? You down here, babe?"

He, of course, received no answer and scratched his bare chest as he entered the kitchen. He was dejected to find it empty and went to the patio door to see if she had gone to sit in the backyard, but the door was still locked, and there was no sign of her anywhere nearby. His heart sunk when he thought of all the potential trouble she could have gone and gotten herself into, and even though he didn't like to think negatively or assume trouble was on the horizon, it was ingrained in him after witnessing all the times Stephanie had fallen. She was ultra-resilient and always found a way to get back up, but Chris wanted to prevent her from suffering the plunges to begin with.

The silence he was met with made it safe to say Stephanie was gone, and Chris received his confirmation when he checked the car keys hanging near the garage door and found a set of them missing. He had given Stephanie his full permission to drive the cars when she wanted, without having to ask each time, but he was kicking himself for telling her that, because it only gave her free reign to go out and do things she probably shouldn't be. He scrambled back upstairs to get his phone and dial Stephanie's number. Taking a seat back down on the bed, he waited on her to pick up, hoping she wasn't out doing something too wild for her own good.

"Hey, can I call you back in a second?" Stephanie answered, sounding rushed and the slightest bit frantic. "I have a thing stuck inside my thing, and it's not very pleasant."

"Uh, sure you can call me back, but I'd appreciate if you would at least tell me where you are and what exactly it is that you have stuck inside your 'thing'. What 'thing' are we even talking about?" Chris inquired, not wanting to be presumptuous, though he had some interesting ideas forming.

"I'll tell you later."

"Tell me now."

"Chris..."

"I'm not letting you off the phone until you tell me," he said.

"I'm at the women's health and wellness place, and they're doing some tests on me."

"What kinds of tests?"

"Womanly ones, so I've gotta go, okay?"

"Why would you just up and go all the sudden without telling me?" Chris questioned. "You could have said something and I would have driven you. We could have made a whole morning out of it and stopped for breakfast or whatever. I swear, I don't get you at all sometimes."

"I'm sorry, but this was something I had to do on my own," Stephanie replied. "Listen, I'll make a promise to you that we'll talk about everything when I get back to your house, but for right now, I really need you to let me go. I've gotta get myself taken care of, and then we'll hash it all out."

"How did you even know how to get there?" he asked, ignoring her persistence in getting him off the phone. If she was going to have a relationship with Chris, then Stephanie would have to learn to answer to him. That wasn't to say he sought to control Stephanie or delve too far into her personal business, but he felt it his right to demand answers when he saw fit, just as she had the opportunity to ask the same of him.

"It's the age of technology, Chris," she sighed in exasperation. "I just looked a place up online and got directions from Mapquest. Can I go now?"

"So, what testing is so important that it couldn't wait until you got back to Connecticut? Is it something urgent that I, or your parents, need to know about?"

"Oh my gosh," she moaned, and he could almost picture her running her hand down her face in annoyance and rolling her eyes at him. "It's just some tests I've needed for a little while, but I put them off until now. It's nothing that bad, and the only reason I got up early this morning to do it is because it's been a long time coming. Please trust me on this, Chris. I'll be back soon, all right?"

"You're so difficult."

"I'm not trying to be, but you'll understand later. I miss you, and I'll bring breakfast when I come, okay, honey?"

"Okay then, drive carefully. You're my precious cargo, and I need you back safe and in one piece."

Stephanie couldn't stave off the smile playing on her lips, "I'll be safe, bye."

The phone remained pressed to his ear until he heard the click, and Chris took that as his cue to put it down and get his day started. He glanced around the room, from his wooden bureau to his replica championship belts hanging from the walls, but everything seemed so bland without Stephanie around. He was becoming used to having her near and felt cheated whenever he lost time with her. Making the adjustment from Stephanie's friend to her boyfriend was beginning to do crazy things to his state of mind, but Chris chalked it up to just wanting to be closer to her now that their relationship had transformed to something more.

He plopped back down on the bed and sighed, counting down the minutes until she would return.

Nearly 1 ½ hours after she first stepped foot inside the clinic, Stephanie was strolling back out with an almost entirely clean bill of health. The pregnancy test had come back negative, which was a major relief to her, and the only thing left to wait on was the results of the tests given for sexually transmitted diseases. The nurse practitioners inside the clinic had examined her and basically said nothing appeared amiss, but that they couldn't guarantee anything until actual results came back. The laboratory had a 48 hour turnaround and had her cell phone number, so they would be calling with their findings as soon as they were concluded.

After hitting the automatic lock button on Chris's keys, Stephanie climbed into the driver's seat to begin the journey back to his house. She remembered promising him breakfast, so she planned to find a place where she could pick up some good take-out along the way, but that should have been the furthest thing from her mind. It felt like she could finally breathe a sigh of relief again and have some piece of mind that her careless decision at the golf course with Amy hadn't resulted in a lifetime of agony she wasn't fully prepared for. Picking up an illness would be bad enough, but being saddled with a child when she still acted out like one herself would have been disastrous, even more so when she factored in that the child's father would have been a man she barely even knew.

When she pulled out of the parking lot, Stephanie spotted an IHOP and decided their offerings would be satisfactory for all her morning meal needs, so she stopped off and picked up some food. The wait wasn't too long, and it was only another twenty minutes or so before she was pulling the car back into Chris's garage. She grabbed the bag of food and her purse before leaving the vehicle and entering the house through the side door attached to the garage. Chris was seated in a chair at the dining room table, flipping through a magazine as he sipped from a cup of coffee. His hair was damp and loose, and he appeared freshly showered and wide-awake.

"Hi, handsome, I missed you," she smiled and placed everything in her arms on the counter, save for Chris's car keys, which she hung back on the hook they belonged on. Chris stood to greet her, and Stephanie jogged to him, where she succumbed to his bear hug and sweet kisses. He peppered each of her cheeks with kisses before finding her lips and sharing a tender moment with her. When they pulled away, he cupped her face.

"What were you doing this morning? Not that you aren't free to do what you want when you're here, because, I mean, that's why I gave you permission to drive any of the cars," he rambled. "You're always free to go wherever you want, but I hope next time you'll at least warn me, because I reached out for you in bed, and you weren't there, so I..." Chris trailed off when he noticed Stephanie raising her eyebrows and smirking.

"You're jabbering a mile a minute, so just take a breath," she placed her hands gingerly on his chest. "I have to tell you what I was doing at some point, so it might as well be now. Why don't you get your food first, and then we'll talk about it?"

"I'd rather do that the other way around."

"Talk first?"

"Yeah," he replied, guiding her to the chair beside his as they both took a seat at the table. He took Stephanie's right hand inside both of his and caressed it, as his own little show of support. "You're safe and healthy, right?"

"Here's the thing," she began, and his faced dropped, thinking she wasn't going to have good news, "I hooked up with the guy at the golf course I told you about. I was thinking it over this past week, and I realized I didn't remember him using any protection when we had sex. It freaked me out, because I thought I might be pregnant, or worse, so I went to the clinic to have them check me out."

"What did they say?"

"Well, I'm not pregnant, first of all, so that's a good thing," Stephanie replied, Chris nodding along with her. "They did a series of STD tests, but don't freak out, because I honestly don't think I have anything. They're nurses, and even _they_ said they didn't notice anything wrong when they did the exam. To be sure, they swabbed my cervix and are sending a sample to a lab so they can check me out. They're calling my cell with the test results within the next 48 hours."

"I'm sorry you had to go through that alone. I really..." Chris let go of her hand and sighed.

"Don't be mad at me, hon. I'll do better now that we're together, I promise."

"No, I'm not mad," he shook his head. "I'm just so worried for you. This morning, I woke up and reached out in bed for you and, when I realized you weren't there, I felt panicked. I know I've gotta let you go and you're an adult who has to make decisions for yourself, but I feel scared for you most of the time. My first thought was, '_Gee, I hope she's not out there doing anything that could hurt her._'"

"I don't want you to see me in that light. I want you to be able to trust me when I'm gone."

"I want that too, but, my God, you just worry me," Chris reached for her chin and grabbed it between his forefinger and thumb. He swished the tip of his thumb across her lower lip as his eyes locked with hers. "I don't want to become overbearing, but next time you're going to leave, could you just put a note on your pillow telling me where you went? It would help it to not be so hard on me."

"Sure, I can do that."

"Okay, good. Thanks, Steph."

"It's nothing," she rose from her seat and went to the counter to sort out the food. Chris followed close behind and retrieved clean plates out of the cabinet, while Stephanie went through each container and peeked at what was inside. "You know something, Chris?"

"What?"

"It makes me feel good that you care so much about what happens to me—makes me feel important."

Chris stepped up behind Stephanie and used his right hand to brush her hair over her right shoulder before he brought his lips down on the back of her newly exposed neck. He shifted and slid the empty plates onto the counter without moving his lips, resting them there in a pucker for several seconds before whispering against her skin, "You've always been of utmost importance in my life, and lots of other people's too."

"I haven't always felt that way."

"Why not?" he asked, finally pulling away from her. Chris grabbed the container housing omelets and distributed one to each plate, while Stephanie concentrated on transferring the French toast, sausage, and hash browns.

"I told Amy a little about this, and she's one of the only people I've ever said anything to, because I don't like to talk about it," Stephanie explained. "My parents were always busy when I was younger, so I would get left at home with Shane, and we'd have a nanny there with us until we got older, but I felt neglected sometimes."

"Couldn't you call Vince and Linda when you missed them?"

"I did, but they would tell me they were busy. I know they were doing the best they felt they could have, but I feel cheated. They should have been there for me when I was trying out for basketball, or when I needed help practicing because I was fouling too many people, or even when I was crying over my first break-up. I just wanted them to be around, but they decided work was more important."

"I understand your side of things, but I don't think they intended that. I know how much your parents love you, and they wouldn't want to hurt you."

"They still did, though. When I have kids, I'll never leave them with a nanny. They'll always be with me, and the few times they can't be, I'll make sure I always answer their phone calls and take time to talk to them. I wouldn't ever want them to feel the way my parents have made me feel."

Chris grabbed each of their plates, which were now filled to the max with food, and transferred them to the dining room table. He motioned for Stephanie to take a seat while he went back to the cabinet for two glasses and visited the refrigerator to grab the awaiting carton of orange juice. He stole a glance at her while filling the cups, "You seem to have a pretty good relationship with your parents now. Don't you think it's time to let go of whatever anger you've held onto since then?"

"Just because it's over doesn't mean I'm not still hurt."

"I know, but you've gotta toughen up when it comes to these things. Everyone can't have a flawless childhood, so you've gotta take the good with the bad and find a way to move on. I know you can do it," Chris said. He returned the juice to the refrigerator before adding, "I'll help you any way I can."

"Yeah, thanks," Stephanie answered as he slid a filled glass in front of her, and she reached for it and savored a sip.

Chris smiled at her before enjoying his first bite of food, and she attempted to smile back but didn't think she even came close. Her conversation with Chris reminded her a lot of the dismissive nature of her talks with Shane on the matter. They all thought she was blowing something from a long time ago out of proportion to garner sympathy, and even though Chris hadn't admitted to that, she picked up on the vibe from him. They all thought she was being dramatic for no reason, and that was why none of the insecurities that followed her through life would ever be resolved.

She couldn't let go of the past without acknowledgment from those who hurt her that they had done wrong. All she needed was a simple apology from her parents and assurance that they hadn't meant to ignore her, but she couldn't ever seem to get that. As a direct result, she continued to settle for the bare minimum, because, after all, her parents, Shane, and even Chris seemed to think it was all she deserved. They lectured for several minutes on hand about how she needed to strive for the best in life and value herself, but when she explained why she wasn't entirely capable of that, they cut her reasons down and made her feel as if her concerns and pain were invalid.

The more things changed, the more they stayed the same.


	11. Good, Old-Fashioned Rivalry

"What about these?" Stephanie inquired. "Do they make me look mysterious?"

She followed her question by pouting her lips, and Chris shook his head, finding the humor in each one of her quirky ways. He caught her chin between his thumb and forefinger, studying her intently before pursing his lips. "They're nice, but I don't think they quite suit you. Here, let me pick something out."

Chris spun the display of sunglasses around on its stationary core, sorting through the styles before plucking off a pair of tinted aviator glasses. He waved Stephanie closer and slipped them onto her face, turning her towards the small mirror. The tag was hanging from the bridge of the glasses and rested against her nose, but she disregarded it long enough to question whether or not she liked the general style. They were more subdued than anything she would have normally chosen, as she had been leaning towards the oversized black glasses Chris had removed from her face seconds earlier. Still, it was interesting to see herself in something different that she wouldn't normally have taken notice of.

"I think I like 'em," she said, turning to one side, then the other. "Think the owner of this place will give 'em to me for free if I do a seductive little dance for him?" she asked, wiggling playfully and sticking her tongue out at Chris.

"I don't think I want to find out," Chris laughed, kissing her cheek as he led her to the front of the obscure market they happened to stumble upon during their drive to Raw.

Stephanie unzipped her purse to pull some cash out, but Chris placed a gentle hand atop her arm to stop her, removing his wallet from his pocket and paying the man at the front. She paused a moment to take in the place, swatting at a few flies buzzing in circles near her ears. The basic setup of the building was similar to any other family-owned store to be found amongst the most remote of towns, but the racks displaying the items for sale were cracked and stained a dingy, yellow tint that was almost enough to make Stephanie feel nauseous just by looking. There were several rows of food stocked on the back shelves of the store, but the cleanliness of the place clearly wasn't of utmost importance to the owner, which was enough to make Stephanie shy away from buying anything edible from such an establishment.

It was all processed, bagged foods that she was hard-pressed to find any sort of contamination issues with, but that small fact wouldn't have been enough to convince her to find a snack within the seedy walls of that store even if her life depended on it. Her stomach was beginning to grumble, but she and Chris were more than halfway to the arena and once they got going, they would arrive in no time at all. She was planning on making a beeline straight to catering to fill a plate up with food, but something told her whatever they would be serving was going to be a disappointment — it usually was. She had been in the process of thinking up a humorous plan to approach her father about having better food provided for talent at the shows, when Chris unexpectedly slid her new sunglasses onto her face, sans tag.

"Oh, you got the tag off," she uttered.

"Yep, sure did. I bit it off," he grinned. "Did I lose you there for a second?"

"Only a little while, but I'm good now."

"Good," Chris grabbed her hand, bringing it up to his mouth for a kiss before he entwined their fingers and walked her out of the store.

They had been dating exclusively for a few weeks, nearing their first month as a couple, and things couldn't have been any brighter. There were certain previously untamed aspects about Stephanie that she felt herself reeling in as a result of spending so much time with the much more sensible Chris, and it was a relief to think she might one day be truly fulfilled. She was also growing immeasurably more comfortable with him in the sense of letting her guard down, which seemed a bit odd to declare so late in the game, since they had known one another for so long that she figured all bonding would have taken place a long time ago. Still, she was connecting with Chris in a way that was unique to any of their interactions in previous years, and their future together felt promising.

When they returned to their car to resume the drive to the arena, Stephanie began sorting through Chris's duffel bag to make sure he would have everything he needed for his match later that night. A couple weeks prior, he had forgotten his wrestling trunks inside their hotel room, and the only reason the mistake was caught in time was because Stephanie had gone through his bag before they pulled out of the hotel parking lot. Ever since then, it had become somewhat of a designated job for her to make sure his work bag was complete and stocked with all the necessities to perform his job to the best of his abilities. She hunched over in the passenger seat, moving his items around as she checked to make sure everything was accounted for.

"How did I do, baby? Am I good?" Chris asked, stealing glances at her in between driving.

"Yep, it looks like you have everything," she said, zipping the pack and sitting up in her seat. She tucked some hair behind her ear and rested her chin in her hand as she stared out the window. A smile crossed her face when she felt Chris pat her leg, and she slipped her hand on top of his and caressed it with her thumb. Without redirecting her gaze, she said, "I feel like I should start dropping a good luck charm into your bag when I check it."

"Like what?"

"I don't know. That's what I was trying to come up with," she laughed.

"How about a four-leaf clover?"

"That's too...expected."

"How do you mean?" Chris quizzed.

"Well, that's what people always use for good luck," Stephanie pointed out. "I want us to have our own special little symbol that only we understand, you know? Like, I want people to hear us talking about it and wonder what we're referring to, but nobody knows, 'cause it's our own secret."

Chris chuckled at that, though he didn't think her suggestion was a bad one. Leave it to Stephanie to want them to have something they could keep from everyone else, but those were the types of things she did that kept the relationship fresh, new, and exciting. From what he gathered in the weeks since they had begun dating, Stephanie needed to feel like she was a bigger part of something or she lost interest in it, and when she became restless was when the trouble started. All she needed was reassurance and something productive to keep her busy, and she transformed into one of the most brilliant people he'd ever had the pleasure of knowing.

"What are you doing at the show tonight?" he asked.

"Oh, uh, I think I have a segment with someone, maybe you, but I'm not sure."

"That's good to know, but I guess I was meaning in the greater sense."

"Backstage?"

"Yeah."

"I'll probably just hang out like I always do," she said, turning to study him closely. "Are you okay, honey?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"I don't know," she shrugged. "You're sort of acting like we don't do the same thing every single week, and you're asking me questions about things you should pretty much already know the answers to."

"No, I was just wondering, that's all."

Stephanie cleared her throat and adjusted her glasses on the bridge of her nose. "You're obviously getting at something here, so what is it? You don't think I do enough at work, is that what you're trying to say?"

"I'm not looking to turn this into an argument."

"Good. I'm not either," she replied huffily.

"Hey, no, you're not allowed to be mad at me for this, Steph. I was only asking a question," Chris said, flicking his turn signal on as he diverted from the main road and started in the direction of the arena. The good that came out of traveling so often during the year and visiting familiar arenas was that, after a while, he memorized their whereabouts and didn't need to bother with a map. His brain was sometimes a bit rusty about exact locations, but he was great with driving into the general vicinity of a place and figuring it out from there. When he started down an open stretch of road, his attention shifted back to Stephanie, and he began lightheartedly jabbing her in the side with his finger. "Baby..."

"_What_?" she asked pointedly, trying to sound angry, though her smirk gave her away.

"Tell me you're not mad so we can move on from...whatever this was a second ago."

"It wasn't anything, and I'm not mad," she announced, still looking out the window.

"Good, I'm not either."

"So, not that it really matters, but say I wanted you to elaborate on whatever point it was you were trying to make a minute ago. What would you say?" she wondered.

"First of all, I would say I think you're a brilliant woman who has all the potential in the world to be whatever you want to be, and you _know_ I mean that."

"I do, and thank you," she replied.

"Don't need to be thanked for telling the truth," Chris shrugged. "Secondly, I was asking about work because, I don't know if you remember this, but a while back, you told me you feel overshadowed by Shane whenever we're at the shows. I was thinking maybe we could put our heads together and come up with something cool that you could do behind-the-scenes tonight to make yourself stand out. It would have to be something that would get you noticed and make people see what a force you are and how much potential you have to help run the company someday."

"So, basically, you want me to knock my brother off his pedestal?" she asked, a mischievous gleam forming in her eyes. Chris didn't catch it since it remained hidden behind her sunglasses, but, had he noticed, he would have realized just how far he was steering her off the desired path. The goal was to work in tandem with her family members, not against them, but in thinking Stephanie was simply playing up his suggestion for humor related purposes, he agreed with her sentiment.

"Yep, that's right. Kick him right off that smarmy pedestal of his," Chris teased, having no clue he was getting a ball rolling in Stephanie's mind that desperately needed to be brought to an abrupt stop. He was essentially training her mind to operate like a promoter's, which would have been fine, if only they weren't known for their dirty, lowbrow tactics that made them amongst some of the most abhorred people in the entire industry. "It's time a dominant woman came in and took hold of this company. Plus, and don't take this as me being condescending, because I don't mean it that way, but it might be good for you to do something positive that keeps your mind occupied. You would be busy at work all the time if you did this, and that leaves less time to find yourself in the kinds of trouble it isn't always easy to get out of."

"So, what should I start with for today?" she wondered. "Do I just go up to my dad and ask if he needs help, or do I find something big to do on my own?"

As they turned onto the home stretch of roadway that would lead them to the arena's entrance, Chris answered, "I say you take the initiative and surprise him."

Stephanie's first thought upon entering the temporary home to that evening's show was that she needed to find Trish and Amy so they could discuss what her new role in the company should be. Chris's words, whether he realized it or not, had given her the extra boost she needed to take on the world — but for starters, she would take on her family's company. Vince may not have realized what a valuable player she was, but that was only because she hadn't shown him all she could do. Chris was absolutely right in telling her she had to step up without warning and show everyone why the company couldn't prosper to the best of its abilities without her having a hand in its success.

She didn't bother removing her sunglasses, liking the shield they provided between her and the rest of the world, and she allowed Chris to lead her blindly through the hallways. He was spouting off about some subject she couldn't quite pin down, because she was too busy trying to figure out how she could show Shane up. Gone were the days of living in her older brother's lingering shadow, and if she wanted to beat him at his own game, she was going to have to start thinking like him. To be successful in ousting her competition who, in this case, was Shane, she would have to successfully anticipate his every move and trump it by pulling an even bigger one of her own.

The only obstacle she saw ahead was that she couldn't be obvious about it. If she suddenly started rushing off to production and creative meetings and giving input without any sort of gradual growth towards it, plenty of eyebrows would raise and people's suspicions would shut her down before she even began. No matter what, she would have to ease into the role she eventually hoped to fill, and that itself would be a whole different job entirely, but she was more than prepared to take on the challenge. She became so wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn't realize Chris was trying to get her attention until he stopped abruptly and she was jerked back from the force of her hand having been gripped securely in his.

With a confused frown and scrunch of his nose, Chris asked, "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, sure, I'm fine," she said, hoping she was playing her distraction off, though something deep inside told her she wasn't fooling anyone, least of all Chris. "I was just thinking about work and what I could do around here. This place needs an overhaul."

"I'm glad you're taking my suggestion so seriously, but I was trying to see if you wanted to go eat first."

"I'm not really hungry anymore, but you can go ahead and I'll meet up with you in a little while."

"Okay, that works," Chris nodded. He released her hand in favor of taking each of her cheeks in his palms, and Stephanie instinctively wound her arms around his waist as he leaned in and pressed his lips to hers. She rubbed his lower back as he delved deeper into his playful assault on her mouth, and when they pulled away, he gazed longingly into her eyes. "I'll see you later, baby. Be good, or else I'll have to give you a spanking when we get to the hotel tonight."

"Oh, well, if _that's_ the case, I just might be bad on purpose," she flirted, dropping a soft kiss onto the center of his neck before pulling away. Chris smiled at her response, running his fingertips lightly across her cheek before walking away, and Stephanie stood watching until his solid form disappeared around the corner. That was all the time she would allow herself for casual banter, because it was Monday afternoon, which would soon turn to evening, and there was a show to run.

She had her work cut out for her.

By the time the final round of pyrotechnics had gone off, signaling the start of what was to be an incredible evening, Stephanie had decided how she was going to incorporate herself in the business side of the show. So as not to make her new business outlook too jarring for the people around her, she decided to infiltrate herself in a behind-the-scenes role by sitting with her father during the entire show and listening in on the lines he was feeding the announcers through his headset. Shane had an understanding of how that side of his job worked and, in the past, Vince had even gotten Shane to fill in for him and keep the announcers in check from the backstage area. He would never dream of asking Stephanie to take on such a responsibility, simply because she had never done it before and didn't appear to have the drive to learn, but it was one of the first jobs Shane learned, and she saw no reason she couldn't.

This was the night when that would change, however, so she slipped stealthily into the seat beside Vince, placing her hands on the table in front of her and staring at him until her unwavering gaze permeated his concentration and drew his attention solely to her. He had been in the process of speaking to Jim Ross through the speaker, dishing out specific instructions on how he wanted the first match of the night — Ivory vs. Lita — to be called. He split his glances from the paper in front of him to Stephanie, frowning as he wondered why she was studying him with such great interest when, normally, she would be sitting around in one of her friend's locker rooms, hanging out. Amy stood only a few feet away, jogging in place as she prepared to set off for the ring, and she tried whistling lowly to get Stephanie's attention and wave hello, but Stephanie was having none of it.

She was past the point of merely asking for her father's attention and was going to command it through her own persistence, by any means necessary. When Amy's music sliced through the buzzing arena, the crowd popped for her and she set out on her journey, which Vince apparently viewed as a reasonable time to break from his headset and find out what Stephanie wanted. He slipped the headphones off, speaking briskly, "I don't know what it is that you need, but I've got a show to run. Can you go sit with Chris until I have time to talk?"

"I don't need to talk to Chris right now, though. I came because I want you to show me the ropes. I want to know how to guide the announcers," she requested. Shane, who had been scribbling notes on some papers he had attached to his clipboard, guffawed at her request, putting his head down when she glared at him. "Something funny, Shaner?"

"Nope," he shrugged, glancing up guiltily. "I'm just wondering what's gotten into you. You're a party girl like every second of every day, but now all the sudden you want to work? It's just a little weird, is all."

"I didn't ask for your opinion, but thanks anyway," Stephanie responded testily.

Normally, she was close to Shane, and that was the way she wanted to keep it, but she couldn't stop the deepest part of her psyche from analyzing Shane's motives more intently. It was interesting to her that he supported her in almost every other aspect of life, but suddenly, when she wanted to take her job seriously, he was discouraging in a way that was bordering on being disrespectful. She never would have laughed at him if he said he wanted to learn something new at work, and she couldn't help but wonder if his hesitance for her to learn was fueled, at least in part, by jealousy. There was no reason for him to want to bring her down before she even began, unless, of course, he was threatened by the possibility of her being more successful in the industry than he was.

His doubts only egged on her desire to learn, so she turned the focus back to her father. "Dad, I'm not asking for you to suddenly trust me enough to put me in charge of everything. All I'm saying is I'm ready to learn, and if you're willing to teach me, then I'll commit to sitting with you at every single show from here on out so I can learn my craft from the best."

"You really mean that?" Vince asked, sitting a little taller in his chair. His eyes shimmered with pride as he grinned at her before skimming the desk for an extra headset. He plugged it into the outlet perched on the far side of the table and handed them over to Stephanie. "This isn't just a one-time thing now, is it?"

"No, it's not. I really want to learn," she said.

"Then put your headset on and hang on for the ride," Vince said. He patted her shoulder, and she smiled sweetly as she placed the headphones at a comfortable position over her head and studied the in-ring action on the monitor while listening to Vince give occasional orders to Jim Ross and Paul Heyman, who were announcing at ringside. Shane's initial shock at her sudden interest in the product seemed to have worn off, as he turned to the monitor on the opposite side of the table and seemed engrossed in a separate task of his own.

Had Shane been paying closer attention to Stephanie, he would have spotted the numerous adversarial glances she directed his way.


	12. To Be Loved for Talent and Self

A/N: I apologize for the removal of this chapter last night. I've been having issues with the website no longer allowing me to name each of my chapters, so I took it down to work on the issue but haven't found a solution yet. In the meantime, I figured I might as well put the chapter back up, since not being able to name it isn't exactly detrimental to anything, so here it is. Thanks for reading, guys!

* * *

Stephanie stared her notebook down with grim determination, biting her bottom lip before she began scribbling onto the blank pages like a madwoman. Her mind was a playground for storylines galore, and she promised herself she would get them all down on paper so they would be ready to be presented on Monday. When she stepped foot in the creative meeting that would precede Raw, she was going to lay all her cards out on the table and go for broke. No idea was too crazy or off-limits, and with all the plot lines she was planning to toss out, something would surely stick and become a real hit.

Her pitching of storylines would come as a complete shock to most people because, up until that point, she hadn't been responsible or collected enough to sit down and put the effort into producing any. When she walked into the next show, she would be a new woman, and everyone would realize how serious she was about having an important role in the company. Shane could laugh her efforts off all he wanted, pretending she wasn't going to be able to stick with her promises, but Vince believed in her, and that was all that mattered. She would prove the naysayers wrong and, soon, the company would be shifting into her capable, awaiting hands.

She squinted in concentration at the paper, getting the rough draft of her thoughts out before she would type them up onto her computer and place them in a word document for safekeeping until the pages were ready to be printed. Her work ethic was going to blow Shane's straight out of the water, and then she would never be looked at as the laughingstock of her family again. Her success would be a direct slap in the face to everyone who had doubted her abilities or whispered behind her back that she would never amount to anything. Stephanie was worth more than she had been showing, and she was fully capable of setting her sights on plenty more than partying and sleeping around.

Finally, her place in life was becoming clear, and she wasn't going to have to roam around mindlessly, searching for the group she belonged to. The place she was meant to be had been waiting right in front of her all along, too close for her to even realize it was there. The WWE was her home, her family, and everything else in between, and she wasn't going to let it slip through her fingers in exchange for going out and getting drunk every night. Chris's expanded role in her life had already mellowed her out in ways unimaginable, and their relationship kept her faithful, so there was no real challenge to keeping on the straight path.

She made her disdain for interruption apparent when Chris's arms slipped around her waist from behind. Growling her opposition to his distracting grasp, she pulled her hand out of range when he tried to remove the pen from her grip. If ever there was a time when she received mixed messages, it was with Chris. He told her she needed to show up to work ready to impress, yet, when she tried to live up to his suggestions, he threw a wrench in her work flow and make her risk losing a flood of ideas she had planned to pitch. She managed to maintain her resolve until she felt his lips on the back of her neck, his right hand holding her hair out of the way, and that was when she lost the fight.

"What are you writing?" he whispered against her skin, sending a ripple throughout her body.

"Stuff for work."

"What's your obsession with work all of the sudden?"

"Nothing!" she shot back, crossing her arms in defense. It was just like him to direct her to focus on work but then pick on her about it. Stephanie was trying to make sense of everyone's suggestions for her behavior, but it was growing difficult to keep track of.

"Don't you dare get mad at me," Chris ordered. "I'll tickle the hell out of you until you smile."

"I _hate_ it when you tickle me," she said, nose crinkling at the mere thought of such an act. If there was anyone who knew how to get under her skin while still holding her heart hostage, it was Chris. He may have frustrated her at times, but he sure was skilled at winding her right around his finger with minimal effort. He was, simply put, a lovable guy.

"I'm going to," he taunted, rising up enough to catch her earlobe in his mouth and rake his teeth lightly over the top of it. "Here it comes."

"No," she swatted him away, but it was too late.

Shoving his hands into the space below her underarms, Chris tickled her with relentless pressure. She tried to be angry and put on a stern face, but eventually she gave into a wave of hearty laughter and allowed Chris to pull her out of her chair, across the room, and into his lap as they landed on top of her bed in a disheveled heap. Since it was Saturday and the weekends were always lazy for her, Stephanie had gotten up and put a t-shirt on but was wearing only a pair of panties on bottom, not caring to put in the effort to pull on pants or shorts. They weren't doing anything except lounging in her house, so dressing up wasn't a major priority.

Her hair was pulled into a high, messy bun and a headband was secured around her aloof strands, holding the unruly wisps away from her face. Despite their closeness, she and Chris hadn't taken the most serious step in their relationship, mostly because they wanted it to happen naturally, and the right opportunity hadn't yet arisen. Sometimes, Stephanie wondered if her lack of clothing, or general candor, bothered Chris. She didn't want him to think she was trying to flaunt her assets in front of him for teasing purposes. If anything, he should have been flattered that she felt comfortable enough to be so open in his presence.

Slipping her hand over the side of his neck, Stephanie leaned in and pressed her lips to his, pulling away momentarily. "I have to ask you something."

"What?"

"Do you care that I'm sort of...unrestrained?"

"You're not 'sort of' unrestrained, baby," he teased, running his hand over the top of her head. "You're completely, one-hundred percent unrestrained, but that's what makes you who you are. You're a very special woman."

"You like it?"

"Of course I do," he admitted. "I mean, sure, there might be times when I wish you would think a little more before you act, but I love who you are. I'm really happy with you, and I hope I make you happy, too."

"You do."

"Good. Now, can you let me in on what all of that is?" Chris inquired, pointing a finger in the direction of the mass of papers, notebooks, and writing utensils on the carved wooden desk. Stephanie lifted from his lap and began gathering her paperwork, almost protectively. Maybe she was scared to show Chris what was scrawled on the pages for fear of rejection, or perhaps she wanted to have something to call all her own, but, either way, she couldn't bring herself to show him.

"It's something I'm doing for work. Dad's giving me more responsibility, and you said I should take it on, so that's what I'm trying to do. Just keeping myself busy like you said," she pointed out, holding the stack of notebooks in her arms. Chris was watching her closely, either curious or suspicious, so she smiled warmly. "I'm just trying to be good, sweetie. I want to be good for you."

He crossed the room, features softening as he reached out to cup her cheek. "You're already perfect for me the way you are. Besides, if you want to make a change, do it for yourself, not me."

"I'm doing it for both of us. Just wait until you see what I have in store for Monday," she said. A gleam formed in her eyes as she bit her lip to contain a smile that ended up putting to shame all of her efforts to conceal it. "You're going to be so insanely proud of me."

"I already am."

Stephanie's heels clicked along the boardroom floor sectioned off inside the high-end hotel that she, and most of the people in the company, had checked into. Mornings weren't usually a time of day she was thrilled to come upon, but that morning in particular, Stephanie sat up in bed with arms opened wide as she greeted the sun with a smile. Meetings prior to the show were usually held off until the writers and road agents arrived at the arena, at which time they would be held backstage. This time, however, was the exception to the rule. This time it was Stephanie, herself, who had called the meeting to action.

Running her pointer finger down the edge of the gloss wood table, she smirked after picking her hand back up and finding not a single speck of dust or dirt in return. The room was large and immaculate, tailored specifically to her liking and complete with a side table filled with snacks and drinks. If anyone thought they could use the need for breakfast as an excuse to sneak out of the room while she was laying down her plans, they would have another things coming. The refreshments placed on the side of the room would have to suffice, and she put her papers down at the head of the table, rounding the corner and snatching a napkin before plucking a delectable scone up and sliding it onto the awaiting cloth.

No sooner had she chosen her breakfast topping, a side of blueberry jam, than Vince came strutting into the room alongside Shane. She nodded abruptly to greet them as she headed back to the main table, and Vince raised an eyebrow when she attempted to take a seat at the head of it. If there was one thing nobody ever challenged Vince on, it was his spot at the head of the table, be it in a work setting or his own dining room. Even Shane had broken away from rubbing the sleep from his eyes to see how their silent tug-of-war would play out, but, not seeing a point in starting a fight with the one person she needed on her side most, she relinquished her seat without a single word of objection.

With the minutes ticking down until 9:00 AM, the writers — some familiar faces from wrestling's past, intermingled with fresh faces they had hired from various entertainment outlets — began trickling in. Stephanie maintained her scone in one hand while she flipped through her notes with the other, preparing herself for the pitch she planned to make that would change the direction of the entire company for the better. All she needed was a majority of votes in her favor, and she would be on her way to making a name for herself. The best part of all was that it would garner her the type of attention that only came from positive reinforcement, and Shane would no longer be the favorite of the youngest McMahons.

When Vince cleared his throat, he meant business, and everyone quieted down as he motioned to Stephanie with his hand to give her the floor. She placed her food down and gathered her papers, shuffling them against the tabletop into a neat pile before rising and heading to the front. A large television screen protruded from the wall behind her, and she silently kicked herself because, had she known it was there, she would have prepared a video portion of her presentation for a nice finishing touch. Tucking her hair behind her ear and straightening her blouse, she addressed the room of little over a dozen attendees, minus Chris, who had slept in at her behest. He could share in the excitement later, when she reported back to him.

She coughed lowly into her fist, trying to shake away the final wave of nervous jitters as she launched into her speech. "So, I think everyone noticed already, but if not, there's food and refreshments against the back wall if you need anything. I want everyone's undivided attention for at least the next 30 minutes, possibly an hour, so I can lay out some new storyline ideas I think you'll really enjoy."

There was a rippling wave of whispers, people likely wondering what she had up her sleeve and what had brought on such a drastic change, but she wasn't deterred a bit. She was a McMahon and, as such, she always had a trick or two up her sleeve. "I have plans for literally every single feud going on in the company right now and even came up with explanations for how those feuds will shift when we get into the bigger picture. I watched some shows back over the weekend, Raw shows from the past couple of years, and I noticed we were missing something spectacular to make each of the episodes special."

"Sure, we've got the typical good versus evil thing going," she continued, "and we have great guys and girls, but what's missing is a revolution. Something larger than life that will be the core of each of the shows from this point forward. To keep the fans tuning in, you have to make them invested in the product, and what else would they want to see except the boss's daughter entangled in a love affair with a guy said boss can't stand? They want to see me fall for a guy like..." she paused, grinning as she allowed anticipation to build before dropping the bomb on them, "Stone Cold Steve Austin!"

Stephanie found herself staring into a sea of confusion, each person looking to the next to explain to them what had just happened. She glanced at Vince, who had fallen into a dumbfounded trance, and Shane had actually covered his face in a poor attempt to hide laughter. He was first to break the silence, asking, "Um...are you serious?"

She gulped slowly, "Yeah, I am. It would do a lot for my character _and_ Steve's, but it would also give a massive boost to the ratings. People would be dying to see how things would play out with me getting with the man my dad despises the most in the entire company, as far as onscreen characters go. Plus, we'd be in control of the matches on TV and nobody would be safe from the stunts we'd pull. We could put all of our enemies in the most heinous matches, stuff like that."

"And what does that have to do with the overall product?" Shane questioned. _Hot shot_.

"I'm just saying it would be cool as the central storyline. I still have ideas for all the other things going on," Stephanie said, flipping through her papers as she tried to get to the other outlines. Vince glided smoothly out of his seat and slipped a hand onto her forearm, halting her. She smiled, expecting praise and a promise that they would start working towards her short-term goals later that evening, but what she got instead, she wasn't prepared for in the slightest.

"Everyone," Vince addressed the room, "I apologize for wasting your time this morning. Meeting dismissed."

"Dad!" she frowned, holding her hands out as her jaw dropped and she watched everyone filter out of the room, some grabbing donuts and juice on the way but not stopping for anything else. She caught sight of Shane sitting at the table, still trying his best to hold in his laughter, and her eyes glazed over as she ducked her head down to hide a pair of bright pink cheeks, rosy with humiliation. She was back to everyone thinking she was some sort of joke, and it hurt more than she cared to notice. When everyone was gone, the large wooden door clanking shut behind the last of them, Vince studied her through flashing eyes.

"Were you trying to make me look like a fool?" he asked.

"What?" she quizzed, sending him a glare of her own. "No!"

"I gave you the benefit of a doubt and let you call this meeting because I thought you were getting serious about work," Vince said. "Had I known you were going to present something this outrageous, I never would have asked anyone here to begin with."

"You mean you don't want to see her hook up with Austin? That sounds like a contender for the storyline of the year!" Shane laughed, leaving the table and walking up beside Stephanie to rest a hand on her shoulder. His joking was all in good fun, but he was hurting her more than he realized and, suddenly, the air was too thick to breathe. "You've had lots of random ideas, but this one truly takes the cake, Steph."

Her eyes darted between the two of them, lips clamped shut, and she wordlessly tore the papers in her hands to bits. She tossed them at Vince and Shane with all of her force, each of whom jumped back in surprise as the paper segments fluttered to their bitter demise on the carpet floor. Snatching her purse off of the table, Stephanie stomped away, barreling through everyone in the lobby until she reached the elevator and was shut safely behind the sliding doors. She tapped her foot against the floor, crossing her arms as she approached her own floor. Once again, she had become the butt of everyone's jokes.

They hadn't even given her a chance to explain the whole scenario. If they had, they might have known that she was serious about forming an alliance with Steve. They would have had a reign of power that trickled down on every other diva and superstar in the company when they took over each of the shows, behind-the-scenes of course, and built an era all their own. She had even named it the Austin-McMahon Evolution, but nobody had wanted to hear her out. Her attempts weren't a joke and were nothing to be taken lightly. She had been hard at work on her ideas for the entire weekend and had even awoken early that morning to look over her final drafts.

When she made it to her door, Stephanie riffled through her purse, spitting out every known curse word under the sun — and possibly inventing some new ones — as she sorted through lip balms, checkbooks, a coin purse, and everything in between to get to her room key. She would have knocked, but she didn't want to wake Chris if he was still sleeping. Lo and behold, she pushed the door open and found Chris already on the couch, eating out of a mini box of cereal he had gotten from room service with the rest of his breakfast. He smiled and tipped his head, as if to ask how it went, and she shook her own head, dropping her purse to the floor and rushing to his side. She lowered onto the couch, hiding her head in the crook of his neck, and Chris dropped everything, cereal included, and pulled her into his lap.

"How did it go?" he asked, thought he wasn't sure why, since the answer was evident.

"Not good," she mumbled against him. "Everyone thinks I'm an even bigger joke than they did before."

"It can't be that bad."

"It is. Shane laughed at me, and my dad ended the meeting before I could even finish what I was trying to say. Can you believe that?" she asked, not pausing long enough for him to answer. "He actually got up and told everybody they could leave, and I wasn't even done yet!"

"Why would he do that?"

She shrugged. "It's because I'm not good enough, I guess. I'm not good at anything except partying and getting myself into trouble."

"I'm not going to sit here and let you talk about yourself like this," he said. Chris ran a finger down the side of her cheek in a swirling line, leaning forward and pressing a series of kisses down the invisible trail his finger left behind. "You worked hard all weekend, and I saw you do it with my own eyes. I'll be talking to Vince at the show tonight, so don't you worry."

"I don't want you to. Besides, I already tore all my papers up downstairs."

"Why?"

"Because I didn't need them anymore," Stephanie replied as she slipped her arms around his neck and moped. "Nobody cares about what I have to say, Chris. They never have, and they never will."

"I already told you I won't sit by and let you talk like this," Chris said. "You're the most intelligent woman I know and you're _so_ creative. I'll go to Vince and make sure he understands how hard you worked and that you deserve to be heard. To be honest, I'm pretty pissed that he would cut you off in front of everybody like that. Even if he wasn't into the direction of the storyline you wrote, he could have at least let you finish it instead of belittling you in front of everyone. That really pisses me the fuck off."

"It doesn't matter," she said, sensing his anger and trying to draw him back in. He was playing off of her ire, and she wasn't having it. Stephanie much preferred happy Chris to his ferocious counterpart.

"Actually, it does."

She pulled away slightly, hands still locked behind his head by her fingers. Chris rarely got worked up, but when he did, there was no telling what he would do. She wasn't happy with her dad, but she also didn't want Chris confronting him, because having the two men who mattered most to her being at each other's throats would only spell disaster. "I don't want you to say anything to him. It'll be easier if I just let it go and try to do better later, but I actually thought what I came up with was good. It doesn't sound that great on the surface, but if he would have let me explain, I think he might have liked it."

"Where is he right now?"

"Probably still down in the lobby, or he might have gone to breakfast with Shane."

Chris's eyes flashed at the mention of her brother, and he sucked in at his teeth. "You said he was laughing at you?"

"No," Stephanie lied.

Chris stared her down, and she withered under his laser beam gaze, suddenly wishing she hadn't told him anything about what had occurred downstairs. While it was sweet that he had grown so protective of her, she didn't want there to be any amount of strife between Chris and her family. Generally speaking, they all got along well and liked each other, and she didn't want Chris entangling himself in a web of messes he wouldn't be able to pull out of, and especially not all because of her. If she had to use a different method to catch her father's attention, she could work on that, but it would have to come without Chris stepping in and risking his own tail for her. He was far above the drama of it all.

Leaning in so that their faces were only a couple of inches apart, Chris tried again. "I want an honest answer, Stephanie. Was Shane laughing at you down there?"

"I don't think he meant it in a bad way," she covered. A part of her felt her words were the truth. "I mean, it hurt my feelings, but he was making a joke of it, so I think he thought he was only being funny. He wouldn't really try to hurt me on purpose." _Or would he?_

"That's not what I asked," Chris said, cupping her cheeks in his hands while she squirmed uncomfortably in his lap, unnerved by such intense scrutiny. "Was Shane laughing at you? Yes or no?"

In an odd turn of events, Stephanie found herself defending the person thought to be her nemesis only a week before. She may have wanted to edge Shane out in the workplace and garner some positive feedback for herself, but she would never truly hurt him, and she liked to think he felt the same way about her. She didn't want him to incur Chris's wrath. "Chris..."

"That's fine, we can do this for the next hour if you want. I have all day to wait for you to answer me."

"I don't want to talk about it anymore. My storyline wasn't good and now it's over. Can't we find something to do? Watch TV, or work out, or...anything?"

"So this is the game we're going to play?" he asked. His eyes continued piercing hers, clear blue dueling against blue-gray, and he repeated his request. There was no winning with him when he got that way. "Did Shane, or did he not, laugh at you? It shouldn't be hard for you to answer one question. I want to know, did he laugh at you or not?"

Stephanie cringed and clamped her eyes shut. "Yes."

"Thank you for answering," Chris said. His lips were pressed against hers seconds later, and she moaned against his mouth, bucking her bottom half against him and sighing when the friction began arousing her. He pulled away and stroked the side of her face before using both hands to abruptly lift her out of his lap and send her crashing back down on the couch cushions. Clad in a white tank top and a pair of loose, maroon sweat shorts, Chris made deliberate strides to the door, where he paused to slip some shoes on.

"Where are you going?" Stephanie asked. Even before the words fully left her mouth, she knew the answer.

"Out," came his succinct reply.

"Can I come?"

"Stay here, baby," he said, tone softening as he looked over. "Call for room service, order yourself something good, and I'll be back in time to help you finish it. I'll come back in just a bit, okay?"

"Go easy on 'em."

"On who?" Chris shrugged, opening the door and standing in its frame. "I have no clue who you're talking about. I'm just going for a little walk."

Stephanie smiled, blowing him a kiss, which he returned with one of his own before leaving the room. The actual words didn't need to be exchanged for both of them to understand what was going on. Chris was, without a doubt, headed downstairs to confront Vince and Shane, and Stephanie could have put more effort into stopping him if she wanted to. The thing was, she had no interest in cutting Chris's mission short. Being cared for by her loving boyfriend was a blessing.

One she wouldn't soon take lightly.


End file.
